


Every Little Thing He Does Is Magic

by perfectdagger (sincerelyste), star_k



Series: Mistletoes & Wrackspurts [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Angst, Fluff, M/M, Muggle Louis, Pining, Slow Burn, Smut, Wizard Harry, You're gonna suffer but we promise you're gonna be happy about it as the series continues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-26
Updated: 2017-01-20
Packaged: 2018-09-01 19:35:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 92,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8635414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sincerelyste/pseuds/perfectdagger, https://archiveofourown.org/users/star_k/pseuds/star_k
Summary: There were only a few things Louis didn’t believe in. You could include in that list the Easter bunny, the tooth fairy, and also Father Christmas. Having four little sisters, though, he had to pretend that all of them were real for the sake of keeping their imagination alive.
Surprisingly, there was one thing, that not until his oldest little sister turned 11 did Louis believe in and did he think would actually be real: magic.  Louis’ sister was a witch and everything he knew would never be the same again.
  Part 1 of the Mistletoes & Wrackspurts series, or the Hogwarts AU where Louis is a muggle, Lottie finds out she is a witch and Harry is Lottie’s wizard friend from Hogwarts, with a lot of magic, letters, owl cuddles and crushes on boys from different worlds.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the The Mistletoes & Wrackspurts series, the Larry Hogwarts AU! We hope you enjoy this journey with us! Buckle up, because this will be a long one.
> 
> Firstly I'd like to thank Syn (Star) for being the one to think about this AU and being my co-writer and my editor, sharing ideas with me, dealing with and correcting my Hufflepuffness, and driving me crazy most of the time. If it wasn't for her, this thing wouldn't exist! <3
> 
> Thanks to [Sammie](http://britpickerhl.tumblr.com/) for being our awesome beta and britpicker, for accepting this fanfic so kindly and for helping us improve the story!
> 
> Thanks to Genny, the darkest Larcel shipper that there is out there, for not suing me (yet) and for putting up with my babbling about the fic!
> 
> Thanks to the Brazilian Larries GC for reading my drafts and screaming at me with every update.
> 
> Thanks to Lils for always reading and listening to our ideas <3
> 
> Thanks to everyone who read this beforehand and helped me to keep on writing!
> 
> And thanks to everyone who will eventually read it!

There were only a few things Louis didn’t believe in. You could include in that list the Easter bunny, the tooth fairy, and also Father Christmas. Having four little sisters, though, he had to pretend that all of them were real for the sake of keeping their imagination alive.

Surprisingly, there was one thing, that not until his oldest little sister turned 11 did Louis believe in and did he think would actually be real: magic.

It wasn't exactly when Lottie turned 11 that the Tomlinson family noticed there was something different about her. Many were the strange things that seemed to always happen around her and to people around her too - namely the countless times Louis woke up with his hair with different colours and his mother, Jay, always thought he was secretly dying his hair. Louis had always suspected Lottie had something to do with it, but he had no way of proving his 4-year-old sister had actually dyed his hair when she could barely eat by herself.

But it was just weeks before her 11th birthday – when a mysterious man dressed in a black suit and bowler, face beardless except for a well-trimmed copstache appeared on the Tomlinson’s front door on a summer Sunday morning just as the whole family (Jay, Mark – their father, Louis, Lottie and Louis’ other younger siblings – Felicité and the baby twins, Phoebe and Daisy) was having breakfast – that they found out Lottie was actually a witch.

Louis could see his mother was a little terrified of the man when she welcomed him inside her house as he introduced himself as Nicolas Grimmett, and handed her an envelope made of parchment paper that was addressed to “ _Ms. Charlotte Elizabeth Tomlinson, Tomlinson’s Household, 28 Sydney Road, Doncaster, South Yorkshire_ ”.

As the Tomlinson family settled in the living room and the children gathered around their mother and father on the couch – Louis sitting on the arm of the couch and Lottie on her mother’s lap, trying to get a hold of the envelope to see what was inside of it – the man started asking the family some questions. He questioned if they had ever noticed anything weird happening around them, unexplained events, accidents that seemed like magic. Lottie briefly darted a look at Louis and he unconsciously led his hand to his hair.

They all looked at Lottie, only remembering the several occurrences of unexplainable things that had happened, but the girl only stared back at the envelope with her big blue eyes, twisting it in her hand. Louis was able to see a thick red wax seal bearing a big H with some other forms he couldn’t make what they were and above it, the same design but with a writing on top that said “Hogwarts”, whatever the hell that meant. 

“Well, Mr. and Mrs. Tomlinson, all these mysterious events do indeed have an explanation. It came to our attention when her name appeared in our Book of Admittance that young Ms. Tomlinson has exhibited demonstrations of magical powers,” the man kept a calm face as Jay embraced Lottie in a tight hug and Mark enveloped his arm around her shoulder. Louis looked from the man to Lottie to the letter in her hand.

“Magical… powers? What does it even…?” Jay asked, her voice trembling.

“I urge you not to be scared, Mrs. Tomlinson. And neither should the rest of your family be. I understand that it comes as a shock to hear that wizards and witches aren’t just a mere creation of non-magical humans fables. The magical community is as old as human kind and we’ve been living in secrecy for centuries, separated from the non-wizarding society, but more than often magical powers manifest in children who were born from two non-magical parents, like yourselves, whom we call muggles. Ms. Tomlinson is a muggle-born witch, but a witch nonetheless, and as such she is entitled to be taught about her powers, how to use them and to be educated into the wizarding world. Therefore, this is the reason why I’m here today, on behalf of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where, should you as the parents and also Ms. Tomlinson accept our invitation, she will be introduced to her magical education.”

The man finished talking and the living room went dead silent. Not even the baby twins, who Louis knew had no clue what was going on, seemed to be breathing. Everyone entered in a dumbstruck state by what the man was saying. 

“So,” Louis was the first to break the silence, “you’re saying my sister has superpowers and she should learn how to control them? You’re saying this _Hogwash_ school will teach my sister how to be a superhero?” Louis wanted to be serious but everything the man was saying sounded like a joke. He didn’t know any other way than to be sarcastic. It was a lot to take in.

“Louis!” Mark turned to face him, seriously, but the boy only shrugged and looked directly at the man again, demanding an explanation.

“Lou, no! I’m a witch! I’m not a superhero! I have magical powers! I’m cooler than any superhero!” Lottie was now jumping from her mother’s lap, still with the envelope in her hands.

“Young Mr. Tomlinson, if you allow me to correct you, the right name of the school is Hogwarts and as your sister just pointed out, she is no superhero. She is a witch and as such she is entitled to be educated about the wizarding world.” The straight face the man had would almost make Louis feel like he was lying, that he was trying to play the worst prank on his family.

Deep down, though, Louis knew better to believe what the man was saying. He couldn’t deny all the things that had happened with Lottie, which were just the weirdest ones – and that now he had learned, only magic could explain. It was terrifying, of course. Lottie, a witch, what did that even mean? Would she have a broom and a pointed long hat? Would she move into the woods, have a cauldron, make weird potions, and transform princes into frogs?

It was terrifying, because she was just Lottie. Charlotte. His first sister, his little sister, the one he babysat so many nights, the one he played with all the time, the one he wanted to protect from the world at all costs, his best friend. Now this man in front of his family was saying that his baby sister had supe– no, magical powers, which could be both overwhelmingly dangerous and useful somehow. She didn’t need Louis to take care of her anymore. She could take care of herself when she learned how to use all her magic, once she decided to attend this school of magic with a weird name.

As the man kept explaining more details to their family, as they finally read the letter Lottie had received, in which a certain Headmistress McGonagall informed that Lottie had been accepted into the school, and as Jay and Mark asked Louis to take his younger siblings back to the kitchen so they, along with Lottie, could talk in private with the man, Louis let all that information sink in.

His sister was a witch and everything they knew would never be the same again.


	2. First Year (2009 - 2010)

At the age of 17, Louis knew he still had many things to see and explore in his life, many things that could yet surprise him. His little sister being a witch wasn’t something he was expecting, though.

He had to be honest with himself and admit that he was apprehensive about this whole thing. He could also see that his parents were a bit lost on how to deal with the situation. His younger sisters, on the other hand, were still young to understand what was happening, so they didn’t notice the tension that was building up in their house.

After talking to Mr. Grimmett, who explained how the wizarding world worked and why it was important for Lottie to attend a magical school, Jay and Mark and a very enthusiastic Lottie agreed that the best, indeed, was for her to go to Hogwarts – apparently the most important magical school in the world, according to Mr. Grimmett. That didn’t mean that everything was magically – pun intended – fine.

It was not that things were bad, either. Their parents were essentially worried about the money, how they would buy all the requirements that were listed in her acceptance letter and how they would maintain her in the school. But other than that, they were apparently calm on the outside about their daughter being a witch.

What concerned Louis, though, was how his little sister would adapt to this completely new world, how their family would adapt to it and what part he would play in Lottie’s new life. She would be alone, in what looked like another dimension, because apparently muggles (what kind of word was that?) couldn’t even get close to the school. He had never spent more than a month away from his sister and neither had her from her family. How were they going to handle her being away most of the year, only coming back home for the holidays and communicating with her through – and that was the worst part for Louis because, again, what even was that, in what century did those people live? – owls? He could perfectly remember Mr. Grimmett’s stoic voice saying “ _electronic devices do not work at Hogwarts, you have to communicate by owls - yes, Ms. Tomlinson, the birds_ ”.

Maybe Louis was overreacting to the whole thing; the others seemed to be accepting it just fine.

Louis had talked to Lottie and all she said was that finally everything made sense in her life and she was going to a place where people would understand and help her. When he told her that he was happy for her but still worried, she dismissed him, telling Louis that he was being silly, because yes, she would miss her family to death, but she wouldn’t disappear. She would still be Lottie, their Lottie, but now, with magical powers.

“You listen here, young lady, you better not forget about us, ok? I know I can’t protect you anymore because now you’re so cool and have super po-“

“Magical powers, Lou,” Lottie corrected Louis while they were sitting on her bed.

They were waiting until Jay was ready to go to the place where wizards bought all their school supplies. If Louis had listened to a place named that – _Diagon Alley_ – anywhere else, he would actually think they would be going out to buy drugs.

“Potato-potato, it doesn’t really matter. Stop interrupting my older brother's speech, right?” He tried to look down at her seriously, but that only made the little girl giggle.

“Anyway, what I’m trying to say is, just because you’re so cool and have magical powers and will meet a hundred other kids who will be just as cool as you, you can’t leave us behind, ok? We gotta stick together, always.” Louis was trying to be the collected cool big brother, because honestly, his sister was just going to a boarding-magical-school, it was not the end of the world, right?

“I know, Lou. I love you and the girls and mum and dad more than anything. I would never forget you! I’ll be coming home and I promise I’ll write to you whenever I can too,” Lottie half-hugged him and Louis could feel his heart burst with love for his sister.

“You promise?” Louis sent her a knowing look. “Well, I believe magical promises are more powerful than our muggle ones, so if you break it…” He turned to face her and started making grabby hands towards her belly. When Lottie noticed, it was too late, because Louis was already tickling her and throwing her against the bed.

“I WON’T LOUIS, I PROMISE, PLEASE STOP TICKLING ME!” Lottie was laughing and trying to breathe and speak at the same time.

“I expect at least a letter once month, ok? ONLY FOR ME! If you send one for mum and the whole family, it won’t count!” He stopped tickling her and ruffled her long blonde hair that was all over her face.

“Yeah, yeah… yes, Louis!” She was sitting on the bed again. “And if you ever tickle me again, the next time I come home, I will curse you with some spell I will learn at school!”

“If I heard right from Mr. I-am-a-very-serious-wizard-Grimmett, you can’t do magic outside school, so I guess your counter threat is flawed, young witch,” he got up from the bed and extended his hand to her. “Now let’s go, mum must be already waiting for you downstairs.”

*

Louis had to stay at home to watch the baby twins and Fizzy, so when his parents and Lottie came back, he was basically attacked with a flood of information and weird objects they had brought home, and, also, an owl.

“Since letters are the only way we can communicate, we thought the owl would be the best option. She could’ve gotten a cat or a frog,” Jay said as she was putting the cage with the animal – which was, according to Lottie, a [bengal eagle owl](http://www.stevenround-birdphotography.com/source/image/bengal-eagle-owl-05.jpg), with brownish feathers and big yellow eyes – on the table.

“Who would like to have a frog as a pet? That’s… disgusting,” Louis commented, as he carefully tried to sneak a finger through the cage to pat the owl. The bird only screeched and tried to peck at his finger.

“I really wanted a cat, but as you made me promise I had to write to you every day...”

“Louis!” Jay squinted at him.

“I did not! I said once a month, at least!” He tried to defend himself.

“Yeah, right,” Lottie showed him her tongue in a playful way. “So, I thought the owl would be more useful and Ruth seemed to really like me!” She was now trying to pet the owl through the cage and the animal unceremoniously drew closer to the bars to let the girl scratch the top of its head.

Louis looked at it incredulously.

“Ruth? It has a name?”

“Louis, it’s a pet, of course it has a name! You should be more respectful with her, since she will be the one bringing you all my letters,” Lottie scratched Ruth’s head one last time and set down at the table, gathering all her books.

“It’s not my fault she apparently doesn’t like people who aren’t wizards!”

At that, Fizzy and the twins gathered around her cage, making cooing noises at Ruth, who seemed to preen on the attention. Louis pouted.

“Guess it’s just you, Lou,” Fizzy replied as she helped Lottie pile the books one on top of the other, and looked at her mother, with a sneaky smile.

Louis sighed and rolled his eyes. He wouldn’t start an argument over a freaking owl liking him or not.

Lottie kept showing them everything else: her books, her cauldron – yes, there was a cauldron; Louis was baffled while the girls were ecstatic by that –, her wand (“ _Turn my hair green!”, “Turn my hair blue!”, “Girls, Lottie is not turning your hairs any colours, please._ ”), her school uniform and robes and hats… It was a lot to take in again. The more Louis looked at all those things, the more it looked like they were over there preparing for a Halloween themed party.

But it wasn’t just a make-believe thing. That was real. His sister was going to a wizard school to learn how to be a witch and use her magical powers soon, and there was no turning back.

Fuck.

*

The remaining week was a blur where Lottie excitedly told everyone about the little things she read in her books and the wizarding world in general. Even though nothing she was saying was making sense to Louis, he was willing to understand and to at least be a little more accepting of his sister’s new world.

When September 1st arrived, Louis was certain he was more anxious than Lottie was. While Lottie excitedly said goodbye to the baby girls and Mark, he put her trunk in the minivan.

The whole drive from Doncaster to London, Louis sat on his mother’s passenger seat taking deep breaths and trying not to let Lottie notice he was freaking out on the inside.

But how could he not freak out? His mother told him that Mr. Grimmett had explained that at King's Cross Station there was a Platform 9 ¾, and to get there they would have to go through the wall between platform 9 and 10. Through the fucking wall. That was simply mental.

It felt like they were being watched every minute it took them to walk around King's Cross. It’s not everyday day that three people and an owl look for a wall in a crowded station to go through.

Louis felt just a tiny more relieved when he saw a couple of people, with the same content in their trolley, go through the wall and simply vanish.

“Alright, love. I think that’s the way we have to go,” Jay said, squeezing Lottie’s hand as the girl pushed her trolley. “Louis, let’s stick together and go through it all at once. We don’t really know how this thing works and…”

“Yeah, yeah, let’s go,” Louis cut off his mother immediately, looping one of his arms around hers and urging them to walk faster towards the barrier between platform 9 and 10.

The people before them had pretty much ran towards the wall, so that must had to be the way to go through it. On the inside, though, Louis was terrified that they would crash into it and people would think they were crazy.

The closer they got to the wall, the more Louis kept thinking his life was on the line. He didn’t even think about only smashing into the wall. He was now thinking that he would die. His heart was racing so fast he thought he was having a heart attack and as their trolley was an inch from hitting the wall, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes waiting for the worst to happen.

They kept going and Louis opened his eyes to see that they didn’t crash. They were still inside King's Cross station, that much Louis could see. But the people around that Platform – 9 ¾ , Louis caught the sign above them – were nothing like the ones who were around them just seconds ago.

The majority of them were men wearing long coats, or robes and women wearing some very old-fashioned dresses. And hats – so many hats, that cliché kind of pointed wizard hat one would always wear at Halloween parties.

If Louis tried hard enough, he could imagine this was a very big Halloween party. But in reality, it was not. It was real world. This was a world full of wizards. These people were all – or at least, most of them – wizards.

“This is… wow!” He heard Lottie on his mother’s other side and looked at her. Her face was in a pure state of awe. Her big blue eyes were shining and Louis had never seen his sister so happy.

His mother was in a similar state, but he could see she was a little tense, trying to take it all in, looking around nonstop, from the people carrying their trolleys around to the big old-fashioned red train in front of them, which had a big “Hogwarts Express” sign on it.

“Right, so, how do you get on this thing? Is there someone we need to talk to?” Jay was looking around, trying to identify someone who would look like they would be in charge of taking care of the other students. Louis could identify some kids were already wearing the same robe Lottie had bought for school, but all of them looked the same.

“I don’t know, mum, there are so many people here. I think I should just…” Lottie tried to push her trolley in the direction of the train, but Louis was holding it, making them stand still in the middle of the platform.

“They should have like, I don’t know, a monitor, because, how the hell would these kids like Lottie, who have no clue how to get here, know what to do… hey, you!” Louis saw someone pass right beside him with that robe and also a pointed hat and simply held the person’s arm, making them abruptly stop.

“Louis! Manners!” Jay almost shouted, but remained calm, with a stern tone.

“Pardon?” The person turned to face Louis with a confused look and Louis was lost for a moment because all he could see was a boy with curls and rosy cheeks and green eyes.

“Excuse me,” he tried to recompose himself, “this is my sister Lottie and we are all new here, we have no damn clue how to do this thing like, do you have someone in charge? Are you in charge? You have this shiny thing here…”

“Kind of, I’m…” The boy tried to say but Louis was speaking too fast.

“…that makes you look like you’re important. I don’t know how any of this works. I didn’t know any of this even existed like a month ago, so, we are just trying to get my sister to this damn train and to this hell of school and…”

“Louis William Tomlinson!” Jay’s voice was now loud and Louis knew that tone meant he would be in serious trouble when he got home. He stopped talking and looked at his mother, who had furious eyes, and then at Lottie, who looked like she wanted to disappear from that place, her face redder than a tomato.

Louis looked back at the boy and he was staring at Louis like he was out of this world. Well, technically Louis was, and so was he and that was why Louis was freaking out. All his worries and anxiety were finally showing and he couldn’t hide it anymore.

“Listen, I’m sorry,” Louis took a breath before he continued and he saw the boy look at him with more empathy, with a very soft smile. “I mean, we’re just here trying to make sure that my sister gets safely to this school that I’ve never heard of and we – well, at least I am or my mother is really good at hiding how she feels in front of her children (“ _LOUIS_!”) – so, yeah, we are terrified of letting her go all by herself into this world that none of us know anything about and…”

“Oh, so you’re muggles?” The boy asked, interrupting Louis and all three of them nodded. “I understand the worry, don’t need to apologize. A lot of muggle families come here without knowing what to do, so, I’ve seen this scene a lot, it’s pretty common.” He turned to face Lottie, smiling at her. “So, you’re a witch, eh? Nice to meet you, I’m Harry Styles,” he extended his hand for her to shake.

Louis looked at Lottie to see her still red, but it seemed now it was from blushing and he smiled a little because, yeah, he could understand why. The bright smile the boy was giving made a dimple form on his left cheek and his green eyes were shining. Cute wasn’t enough to describe him.

“Lotti – I mean, Charlotte Tomlinson,” she shyly replied, taking his hand in hers.

“Well, very nice to meet you, Lottie,” Harry greeted her and Louis could see his sister melting inside (because he kind of was too? Nobody would be able to tell, really). “Welcome to Hogwarts! I mean, we’re not in Hogwarts yet, we have to take the train and… Anyway, you got my point, right?” Harry smiled again and Lottie only nodded, chuckling.

“So, she does have to take the train, right? How does she go about that? How do I know my sister will arrive safely at this Hogwarts of yours?” Louis interrupted because even though the boy was charming, looking only a couple of years younger than him, he was still worried about Lottie going alone into that old train.

“Louis, right?” The boy turned to Louis again. Louis only murmured a “yeah” while Harry turned to his mum, “and you must be Mrs. Tomlinson?” Jay nodded. “You have my word that Hogwarts is the safest place in the world and you can rest assured that Lottie here will be safe and sound there. There’s really no need to worry.”

Jay smiled warmingly. “Oh, thank you, dear. It makes me feel more at ease to hear you say that.”

“You give us your word that she will be safe? You’re sure about that?” Louis arched a brow at Harry, challengingly, “because this family has a running theme of making promises and not breaking them, so if something happens to my little sister here, you can be sure I’ll come after you and I don’t care if you have super powers or whatever. You will know what real muggle rage looks like,” Louis yelped the last words while Jay pinched his arm and Lottie hid her face.

Harry had his eyes locked intensively on Louis as he gave his little speech and Louis couldn’t say if he was holding his breath not to laugh at a muggle threatening him or if Louis had actually made the boy fear for his life. He then gave a little nod as if he had decided on what to do about this strange request.

“Yeah, ok,” Harry said, opening a gentle smile as he looked again at Lottie and then at Jay, who had the most soft expression on her face. Louis had almost forgotten that a minute ago she was almost spitting fire at him. That boy really had a way to win people over. With those curls bouncing every time he would turn his head, it was hard not to be enchanted by him.

“Ok?” Louis was not sure the boy was being serious. He looked towards his mother, a little confused, trying to see if he hadn’t misunderstood what Harry had just said, but Jay only smiled at him with a brow raised.

“Yeah, I can watch over her on the Express and keep an eye on her while she’s at school,” Harry kept the smile on, while looking again from Jay to Louis, and Louis was starting to doubt that boy was real. Nobody could be that kind and charming at the same time. “We may not be in the same House, though,” he turned to Lottie, “you know, you’ll have to be sorted in one of the four Houses. If you end up in Slytherin like me, then no worries,” he turned to Louis once again, “but even if she ends up in another, I promise I won’t let anything happen to her.”

The confidence in Harry’s voice made Louis have no doubts that the boy would probably give his soul in order to keep his promise to Louis. He didn’t know why he was doing that. Harry Styles, until five minutes ago, had no idea who the Tomlinsons were, so he had no reason to do it. But if he was determined to keep Louis’ sister safe, then Louis didn’t really have anything to complain.

“Thank you, Harry. Can I call you Harry?” Jay asked, with endearment in her voice.

“Yes, of course Mrs. Tomlinson.”

“Then, call me Jay, please. I apologise for Louis’ attitude here. It’s understandable, I know, since we really don’t know anything about your world and yes, we are all,” Jay glanced at Louis, making him conscious of his previous accusation, “terrified of letting Lottie on her own into this, but, I trust her to do her best and to keep herself out of trouble and now I also trust you to be her friend.”

“Thank you, Mrs– Jay,” Harry extended his hand to Jay, but she kindly embraced him in a quick hug.

“Thank you,” Louis said as his mother and Harry let go of the hug, “but I stand by what I said. I’ll have Lottie tell me if you are taking care of her or not.”

“Louis! I don’t need…” Lottie tried to interrupt, but Louis only shushed her with a gesture of his hand.

“Don’t worry, Lottie. I’ll be glad to keep you company. It won’t be any bother at all,” Harry said just as they heard the whistle of the train. “Oh, this is our call, we should already be on the train, Lottie, let me help you with your luggage, alright?”

“Yes, thank you!” She replied, still a little shy. She turned to her mother and looked from her to Louis. He could see she had watery eyes already.

“Oh, Lottie, please be good. Take care of yourself, whatever happens, please let us know,” Jay embraced her daughter in her arms, tightly.

“Don’t forget my monthly letters, sis,” Louis joked, as the girl turned her face from her mother’s embrace and poked her tongue at him.

“We’ll miss you so much!” Jay kissed the top of her head.

“Me too, all of you. Tell dad and the girls I love them and I’ll miss them.”

“Only them?” Louis kicked her at her shin, making her let go of her mother.

“Oh my, you are impossible, Lou! If I could I’d take you with me, because I will die missing you every day!” She almost jumped in his arms, holding him so tight Louis thought she would rock them down. She then whispered, “but stop embarrassing me. I’m not a baby anymore!”

“I love you, Lots. You know I do. Not really sorry for embarrassing you though!” He kissed the top of her head, trying to stop himself from squeezing her to death.

“I love you. Thank you for being the best brother,” she looked up at him.

“The only one you have, so, not really that special.”

“Louis!” Jay called him, but this time not mad, but teasingly, with tears in the corners of her eyes.

“Right, sis, go on then. Go learn how to be a superhero!” Louis let go of her and watched her give Jay one last quick hug and run behind Harry, who was waiting for her, carrying the girl’s trunk already.

“Goodbye, Mrs. Tomlinson… Louis...” Harry waved at them and Lottie did the same, with a smile on her face.

“Take care of her, Styles!” Louis shouted as he saw them starting to walk away.

Harry only turned his head around and shouted back.

“It’s a promise.”

Louis kept looking at them until they disappeared inside the train. He felt a weird feeling at the pit of his stomach. It was unsettling to see his little sister going off into a completely different and new world, but at the same time, he didn’t know why Harry promising he would take care of her was something he could believe in.

“He’s kinda cute, isn’t he?” Jay’s voice caught Louis off guard as he saw both Lottie and Harry wave at them through the windows as the train started to move.

“What?” Louis looked at his mother as she smiled and waved back.

“He’s very sweet and polite, and he kinda has some charm, right? Green eyes, curls, dimples…” Jay turned to Louis, with a smile on the corner of her mouth. Louis knew that smile very well to know what his mother was implying. He couldn’t deny he had found Harry really cute and charming, but he would rather die first than let his mother know that.

“Mum, please,” he rolled his eyes and started walking back to the pillar where they had come from as he saw some other people going into that direction again.

“Lottie was certainly infatuated by him. I’m not gonna lie, I was too, such a wonderful young gentleman, don’t you think? I bet we’re going to see him around a lot, and I think we’d like that, wouldn’t we?” Jay said, hooking one arm around Louis’, patting his head, and kissing his temple.

Louis simply dismissed his mother’s comment, shaking his head and laughing slightly. Yeah, he wouldn’t mind having that boy around.

 

_**September, 2009** _

 

Lottie’s first letter arrived the weekend after she left for Hogwarts, leaving Louis actually surprised by how soon she had written them - and also by Ruth dropping it in the middle of the breakfast table when no one expected her.

Louis knew that their promises weren’t worthless; she would surely keep them, so he shouldn’t be so taken aback by it. It was just that he thought she would be so immersed in her new world, trying to enjoy every moment of it, that she wouldn’t have time to write to her family. He knew he was being silly, but he just couldn’t stop.

And as promised, not only did she send a letter to the whole family, but also one for him. If he had wanted to cry a little when he grabbed the “ _To Louis, only_ ” envelope the owl had dropped into the crowded kitchen, nobody needed to know.

He didn’t wait for his mother to read the family letter for everyone at the table. He rushed to his room, leaving his mother’s protests behind, and settled on his bed, opening the envelope and taking 3 sheets of paper completed on both sides.

He ran his eyes over the letter and almost didn’t recognize his sister’s handwriting in a thick black ink, but he knew it was hers when he read the “Dear Lou” on top of the page.

_Dear Lou,_

_First of all, I really hope you’ve read this letter before mum read hers because I’m literally writing almost everything that happened to me this week only for you. Mum’s letter only has the highlights. I’m keeping my promise to keep you updated on my life, see?_

_Anyway…_

_How are you, big brother? Missing me lots? I hope so because I’m missing you and everyone to death already! I wish you were here just to see how incredible this place is! The word “magical” is not enough to describe it all! I’ve never imagined I would see things like these in my life! Everything is so beautiful and out of this world! Literally everything!_

_From the moment I stepped inside the Hogwarts Express, I haven’t stopped being surprised by the things around me! Harry (the boy we met, remember him?) helped me get a cabin inside the train and he actually stayed with me for a while, explaining many things about Hogwarts, like how the students are divided into 4 houses (Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff) and that when I’d get there I’d be sorted into one of those by a magical hat! He told me a lot of stuff while buying me some sweets! There were some chocolate frogs that came to life and also some jelly beans with weird flavours (I think you will love those! I’ll bring some when I go back home!)._

_I wish he had stayed with me the whole ride, but he needed to check on other students on the train (he is actually kinda of a monitor, you were right, ha!). At least that way I met some other students! There are some other people like me, who have never heard of magic before, some people_ _whose one parent is a muggle and the other is a wizard, and others whose families are very famous among the wizards! Everyone was so excited to arrive at Hogwarts, and Lou, when we did, when we left the train, I almost cried, because I thought I was dreaming! We were told that first year students get to enter the castle separately from the other students, so we got into some boats that simply floated on the water, nobody was rowing them, Lou, it was like I was almost flying!_

_And when we finally got to see Hogwarts, Lou, you’d never imagine that Hogwarts is a castle, like, a HUGE castle, just like the ones in fairy tales… scratch that, even MORE beautiful than the ones we see in fairy tales! And inside the castle, you won’t believe it, there were ghosts, like, real ghosts! People who were alive hundreds of years ago and now are dead and they float around us, some of them even go through us, and the candles, they float too, and the paintings they move and you can see the sky inside the Great Hall… ah, Louis, it’s too much, I can’t even describe everything to you! I’ll try to keep it short, though._

_I’m gonna go straight to the point and one of the most important things I have to tell you! Remember when I said that Harry told me we’d be sorted into the Houses? We entered the Great Hall and all the students were already sat. They have 4 long tables for each one of the Houses, so when we are sorted we get to sit at our House’s table. I was terrified to walk that long aisle, with everyone looking at us! On the front of the Hall, there was a big table with all the professors and in the middle there was Headmistress McGonagall. She’s very old, Lou, like, if you think Nan is old already, it’s because you haven’t seen McGonagall!_

_Anyway, so, Harry wasn’t lying when he said we’d have to be sorted using a hat! And the hat talked, Lou! There were some people who went before me and the professor put the hat on top of the student’s head and then the hat would say which House the student was in! I was terrified, but every time a student was sorted into one of the Houses, that House would cheer so loud! When one boy was sorted into Slytherin, I looked at their table and I think I saw Harry there and I hoped I could stay with him because he had been so nice to me and he was the only person I actually knew there! So when it was my turn, I don’t know if the hat could actually read my mind, but I heard him saying that even though I was a muggleborn, I had so much potential and was very ambitious with a clever mind, that I seek to accomplish great things and prove myself, he could see me in Slytherin! It took him a while to actually decide in which House I was and I was starting to get nervous because nobody before me had taken that long and I felt people already looking at me, but when the hat shouted SLYTHERIN, everybody cheered for me at the Slytherin table! I felt so happy Lou! I jumped from the stool and I saw Harry was the first standing and I ran to the table and Harry came to sit next to me and he hugged me, Louis, congratulating me and saying that he would be able to take care of me properly now that we were housemates! I was so happy, Lou! I didn’t know if I could actually be in Slytherin, I was only hoping it could happen and now it’s real! And I think if you were a wizard, you’d be in Slytherin too! Imagine, you, me and Harry in the same house? It would be so cool! Everything is so nice, Louis, I really wish you could see it all!_

_I thought I could keep this letter short, but I’m so excited for you to know about everything! I think I’ll have to write you every week, this way I’ll never break our promise!_

_I still have so many other things to say, but basically, I already had my first classes and Louis, I DID MAGIC! I used my wand and made a feather float! I also got to ride a broom! It’s so unbelievable and so much fun! But I actually have to study a lot, there are so much homework, but we still have time to rest in our common room – which is in the dungeons, can you believe? Nobody that is not from our House knows where it actually is, it’s pretty cool! And the dungeons are inside the lake! I actually saw a mermaid from my window! They weren't as pretty as I thought, though. Still cool, anyway!_

_Harry said he could help me with my homework and he actually is always around asking me if everything is ok and if I need anything. He’s so sweet, Louis! I’m happy we met him at the platform! I’m making friends from my year too, of course, but with Harry, I feel like I’m safe. He makes me feel like you do sometimes and that’s when I miss you the most! He’s not as funny as you though. He tries to be, and that’s when he’s actually funny. Everybody laughs at his lame jokes (and everyone loves him, actually, even though he’s a_ perfect _!). But I actually made him laugh the other day. I was telling him that I had to train Ruth to send the letters home and he was like “who’s Ruth?” and I explained that it was my owl and he said “wait, you named your owl Ruth? Because she hoots?” and he almost choked on his juice! His friend Niall had to help him breathe again! It was hilarious! He may not be as funny as you, but at least he understands and laughs at my jokes, ha!_

_But I still miss you and wish you were here with me!_

_Oh Lou, this is getting too long! I really want to tell you e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g! I promise I will write next week telling you more! That is, if Ruth returns from home with a letter from you too! Don’t think I’m the only one who has to write to you! I want to know how things are going too! We made a promise and that promise extends to you as well, big brother! And tell mum she can write back too! (I’ll write that in her letter too, but tell her anyway)._

_I’ll stop here and let you start writing your letter now :)_

_I love you and I miss you, Lou, don’t forget that!_

_Lots of love,_

_Lottie xx_

_PS: Oh, did you see that I’m not writing this with a pen, right? Can you believe we don’t use pens? We have to write with quills! Quills, Lou! That’s so wicked! I mean, we use many things that are very old-fashioned and muggle people don’t use anymore. Harry doesn’t even know what a pen is, can you believe? Anyway, I’m really gonna stop now. I’ll write to you again in a week. Take care! xx_

Louis finished reading the letter and, again, if he didn’t know that was his sister’s handwriting, he would’ve have thought that this letter was written by someone else, he would’ve thought that this letter was taken right from a fairy tale book.

A small voice inside his brain kept telling him that it was a joke, that Lottie was playing a big prank on him.

It was not that he didn’t believe what she had said, but those things were really unbelievable, be them truth or not. It was hard for Louis to grasp that that was happening to his little sister, that all those things had happened for real while she’s in some kind of alternative dimension.

It wasn’t really an alternative dimension. It was somewhere in Scotland, that much Louis knew, but anyway, it was somewhere far away where normal people couldn’t go. And everything sounded mental and even though it was hard for him to believe it, he knew everything was real.

That is not to say he wasn’t happy for her. He was. It just seemed… unbelievable.

But he guessed it was time to let it sink in that Lottie being a witch was real.

Louis read the letter one more time before settling it on his desk and getting a piece of paper to write back to her. Of course he wouldn’t miss the chance. He didn’t know exactly what to write, but he thought he would be able to send a decent reply.

_Dear Lottie,_

_I told you to write to me at least once a month, not the minute you arrived at your new school. I knew you’d miss me, but that much already? Geez, sis!_

_Haha kidding! I’m glad you wrote and yes, young lady, now you are obligated to write me every week because I want to know everything that happens with you! I mean, I don’t know if what you’re saying is true, because there’s no way of knowing since you’re stuck in another dimension, but I’ll trust you that you’re telling me the truth, because I’m that kind of good brother!_

_Seriously now, Lots, I’m glad that you are enjoying the school and that you are learning how to do magic (that’s still weird to say, I’ll admit)! Have you learned how to turn people into toads already? Oh wait, you have flown a broom?! For real?! So you’re now flying around with your pointed hat and an evil laugh? Ahaha! Also, what’s up with the quills? What century do you guys live in there? I mean, you’re already living in a castle, what the… and how do you even write with quills? Lord, do you want me to send you some pens? Is that even legal or can’t you receive anything from us? I could make Ruth swallow one for you, but I think that would kill her. Not that I’d actually mind, but then we wouldn’t receive any more letters from you. Well, forget it then haha but if you want some pens, just tell me and I’ll find a way to sneak one out to you._

_Anyway, so you’re in this house, Slytherin? Hm, congratulations, I guess? I’m glad the talking hat put you in the one you wanted! I don’t know what that means but if you’re happy, that’s all that matters! And yes, I remember Harry and I hope now that you’re in the same house as him, he will take care of you! I hope you and him become good friends! But just friends, little sis, what’s that with you calling him a_ perfect _?? Do you already have a crush on him? God, Lottie, the boy is like 5 years older than you! And he’s not even that perfect, to be honest. And if you said he’s not funny, then what’s the point anyway? Whatever, I don’t really care if he’s Mr. Perfect or not, tell him that he’s supposed to keep an eye on you, be your friend and not replace me as your big brother._  

_While you’re out there learning how to be a wicked witch (ha), everything here is just normal, or so. Without you here, the girls think they can use me as their dummy and the other day I forgot to take the hairclips they had put on me during breakfast. When I arrived at school, Stan couldn’t stop laughing during class but he wouldn’t tell me what was wrong, so I almost punched him in the face. When you learn how to finally turn people into toads, please, just turn Stan into one so I don’t have to look at his stupid face anymore! Your superpowers will be very handy, little sis! Haha! Kidding (or maybe not, maybe you’re my only hope to get rid of my lame friends)._

_I guess I don’t have much else to tell, Lots, but now that you said you’ll be writing every week, I expect cool stories about what you’re doing! And I’ll try to do fun stuff so I can tell you too!_

_I just wanted to tell you that I miss you and I’m proud of you, ok? We all are!_

_Take care!_

_Love you Lots!_

_Your ONLY big bro,_

_Louis._

Louis finished writing the letter and got another paper to make an envelope with it, folding the letter and putting it inside. He went downstairs again to find his mother, father and the girls still at the kitchen table, debating what to write back to Lottie, as the girls wanted to tell her everything that had happened with each one of them.

He waited until his mother finished writing her reply and gave her his envelope, so she could attach them to Ruth. There was no way he would deal with that bird. She was already eyeing him suspiciously from the edge of the window where she was standing. He sneakily poked his tongue out to her. Next letter, he would tell Lottie to learn how to make a spell so the owl would at least be friendly to him.

They all watched as the owl flew away, taking their letters back to Lottie. It was just a simple letter, but Louis felt like Ruth was carrying his whole world inside that envelope… well, at least a small part of his world, a part she could take back to Lottie so she wouldn’t miss her old life that much.

Even though Louis knew Lottie would never forget about them, there was something inside of him that was still sad that his little sister was having this experience away from home, away from him. And he knew she was having fun, at least now he knew, so he didn’t have to worry about her being lost or alone and left out anymore, because apparently now she had a new best friend, Harry, who was making sure, just like he had promised Louis, that Lottie would be fine.

And at the same time, he was kinda jealous of Harry, because Harry got to see Lottie discovering all those new things while Louis couldn’t be there. And he was also jealous of Lottie, because it seemed Harry was indeed Mr. Perfect, whatever Lottie meant by that, and yeah, he had to admit he felt a little sting in his heart when Lottie mentioned that she would love for the three of them to be at Hogwarts, to be in Slytherin together. But that would never happen, because Louis was not a wizard and he could never be one, nor be part of his sister and Harry’s world.

Damn, now he sounded like The Little Mermaid.

 

_**October, 2009** _

 

Louis was pretty sure that he had written and read more letters in the past month than he had ever done during his whole life.

Lottie, fulfilling their promise, was writing to him and the family once a week, telling them most of the things that were happening as well as the crazy and still unbelievable things she was learning – how to make spells and use her wand, how to make potions, how to transfigurate objects into other things and so on. Every letter she sent, Louis found one more thing that he never thought could be real. Every letter, Lottie would surprise Louis at how much and well she was adapting and enjoying her new life. He couldn’t be happier and any more proud of her.

Louis tried to go on with his life as if it was still normal, as if nothing had changed, but sometimes it was hard because he kept thinking about all the things Lottie was doing and how it all still seemed to be impossible. He was accepting more and more that this was a new reality in his life, that witches and wizards were real and that his sister was one of them, but when he kept on doing normal things, like catching the bus to go to school, he would remember that his sister told him people could simply appear and disappear in certain places, and he still couldn’t grasp that this was going to be the normal thing for his sister to do. It was completely mental, but he was accepting it, little by little.

Another thing he had to accept was having an owl constantly getting inside their house. While his parents and sisters already considered Ruth their pet, Louis was having a hard time getting along with the bird. He wouldn’t dare get close to her whenever she landed on the kitchen table, as she had already pecked him when he was eager to get his letter from her beak. Louis had already told Lottie a hundred times about that, but the girl only replied telling him that he should be the one changing his attitude towards the bird, because she was very lovely and well behaved since Harry had helped her with the training. Ruth was indeed well behaved, but not with Louis and maybe, just maybe, it was because Louis was still a little wary of why wizards were stuck in the archaic era.

Nonetheless, every time Ruth arrived Saturday morning in their kitchen, Louis thanked all the Gods above because Saturdays had become his favourite day of the week. School was getting tiring each day that passed and Lottie’s letter had become a distraction from his own responsibilities.

The weekend before Halloween, Ruth appeared a little after breakfast while Louis was helping his mother clean the kitchen to get ready for lunch. Jay patted the bird’s head as she dropped the letter on the table, and gave her a pot with water and another with crackers. With Ruth being distracted, Louis got the letter addressed to him and went to his bedroom to read it.

Louis had barely opened the letter and he was already laughing by the first line he had read.

 _For Merlin’s beard, Louis! Will you stop with the_ perfect _thing? Harry is a P-R-E-F-E-C-T, ok? It’s getting annoying, it’s not funny! He’s not Mr. Perfect, he’s not my boyfriend, he’s my friend and our monitor, that’s what prefect means! The other day when I got your letter, he was having breakfast with me and he almost saw what you wrote! If he had, and if I could, I would have flown home at the same time to jinx you!_

_And if I were you I’d be very careful and attentive, because Niall actually taught me how to jinx people! Harry didn’t like it very much though, because he had to take points from our house and take me to Professor Slughorn afterwards, but, nah, I don’t regret jinxing that stupid boy! Actually, he was annoying me so much from the Gryffindor table, can you believe? So I made his tongue get stuck inside his mouth and he couldn’t speak anymore. Everybody laughed, but, well, Harry didn’t and he even threatened to take Niall to Slughorn too because he had taught me that! I felt bad for him. I was the one who asked him because the boy had been annoying me for some weeks now and I just wanted him to shut up! Anyway, at least the boy shut his mouth, but I got detention in the end, oops!_

_I thought Harry would be mad at me for a long time, but he didn’t. That’s a good thing. And he still helps me with my homework even though he has been studying a lot. He has this test at the end of the school year, the O.W.Ls (I will have to take them in my fifth year too, so he said I should prepare myself as much as I can), and he wants to do really well, so he says that helping me helps him revise. I told him that if I had my colourful pens, I’d help him make charts and lists, because that’s what I used to do when I was in muggle school. He’s still very curious about pens, it’s funny! I think I’ll have to ask you to send me some of my glitter pens. I know I said I don’t need them, but I really want Harry to know what they are like! Can you send them please? I have a big collection of glitter ones in my bedroom, if Fizzy didn’t take them to school, they are there, ask her!_

_Oh, Lou, I’m so excited because Halloween is coming and the castle will be all decorated. Harry’s been telling me about it, and you know, it will be my first Halloween as a REAL witch! Ha, can you believe it? Remember when mum used to dress us up like wizards? Now I don’t have to because I am one! That’s crazy, right? I can’t wait for the end of the month!_

_Anyway, I guess that’s all I have to say this week!_

_How are things going with you? How are your classes? Has Oli stopped annoying you? And no, I still don’t know how to turn people into animals, stop asking me to turn him into a rat!_

_Have fun with the girls this week and let them do your make up! If you can, send me a picture, please? Haha_

_Love you!_

_Lottie x_

Louis was smiling, as he always did, when he finished reading the letter. He quickly took a sheet of paper from his drawer and fetched a pen to start writing his reply.

_Dear Lottie,_

_What on earth is a Merlin’s Beard? Is Merlin even a real wizard? Have you ever met him? Is he alive? Have you actually seen his beard? Haha Kidding!_

_Oh, stop with the drama, will you? I know Harry is not perfect, I mean, he clearly ain’t me, so he can’t be perfect, right? Haha I’m just teasing you! And good, I’m glad he’s not your boyfriend! I mean, you aren’t old enough to date anyone yet, let alone date any wizards! How will I know they are the right guys for you if I can’t even meet them? So, no dating boys from Hogwarts that I can’t approve, noted?_

_And… What is that with detention, young lady? Last week you were all about following the rules and now that? See, that’s why Harry is not Mr. Perfect! He took you to detention when he was the one supposed to keep you away from trouble! I think I must have a talk with him and this friend of his, Niall. Who the hell does he think he is to teach you how to jinx (I thought this was when we had bad luck, but oh well, we learn something new every day)! I don’t like him! He’s older than you, he shouldn’t be teaching you how to behave badly! At least Harry is decent enough to help you with homework, though. Ok, maybe he’s Mr. Perfect indeed (sorry, ok, I’ll stop!). And because he’s doing that for you, yes, I’ll send you your pens. I think I saw Fizzy with Daisy and Phoebe playing with them the other day, though, so I have to check!_

_Talking about them, yeah, they did my make up the other day. They said they were practicing for my Halloween costume! Do you wanna guess what it will be? Well, it will take you a week to answer this, so by the time you do, I’ll already have gone to the party, so, there’s no point. Anyhow… I will be a wizard, in your honour, sis! The girls want to be one too! Mom is not very happy with the idea, because she thinks I’m doing this to mock you! Well, just so you know, I’m not ok? I just thought it was convenient, right? Then that way, all of us will be wizards for Halloween._

_I might even convince Stan to dress up as one as well, but he still wants to be a footie player. What’s the fun in it? Are you sure you can’t jinx him so you can put some sense into his big head? :)_

_Well, on my side, my classes are doing fine, although I didn’t learn how to transfigurate a rat into a glass of wine like you did. We just had a bunch of things to study about classical plays. I’m enjoying it, though. But it’s all boring compared to what you’re learning!_

_Anyway, have a nice Halloween party over there! I have a question, though, if we dress up as wizards for Halloween, does it mean you wizards dress up as muggles? Haha that would be something!_

_Alright sis, take care and DO NOT get detention again, otherwise I’ll find a way to go to Hogwarts myself and kick Styles in the groin for not keeping his promise to me!_

_Miss you, Lots!_

_Lou._

 

**_December, 2009_ **

 

Waiting for Lottie’s letters to arrive was every Saturday’s routine and reading them in his bedroom, away from the mess and excitement of the rest of the family was something Louis anticipated the whole week.

Lottie’s letters to him sometimes had the same things she would tell the family, but Louis noticed a recurring theme in his that didn’t appear in the family’s ones: Harry.

She would tell Louis so many things that she did with Harry, or that Harry had done, like, bringing her sweets from a shop in the village where the older students could visit, or that time after Halloween when Louis had sent her a picture of him and the girls dressed as wizards and she said that Harry thought they would make amazing wizards, specially Louis. Why she had to include this detail in her letter, Louis didn’t want to know.

And it was not that he was complaining about hearing about Harry. If he had to be honest with himself, for the past two months, he grew a little fond of Harry in the way Lottie talked about him and if he was just a little as eager to know what Harry was up to at Hogwarts as he was about what Lottie was doing, he could blame it on his sister for actually befriending the boy and not shutting up about him.

And the letter Louis was reading now in his bedroom was no different.

_Dear Lou,_

_How are things going with you this week?_

_I’m gonna tell you I’m a bit tired because I’ve been having so much homework because the teachers want us to hand in everything before the Christmas holiday!_

_I have to write an essay for History of Magic and honestly, if I didn’t have Harry’s help, I would be lost, because I almost had no time to do any research because, er, I got detention again._

_I know you must be pulling your hair out now, sorry :( I’m trying to behave, I really am, but this time, this other boy really deserved it! I was walking with Danny in the courtyard and it was snowing and this boy started throwing snowballs at us and Danny had told him to stop but he didn’t listen to her, so I had to jinx him! It was bad timing that Harry had just walked in with Niall and saw the whole thing, so he had to take points from me and send me again to Slughorn. This time I had to stay cleaning the trophy hall two nights in a row! But at least the boy got detention too! See, it wasn’t entirely my fault!_

_So because of that, Harry decided to help me, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to finish the essay in time! I had to write 2 (TWO!) whole pages of parchment on the Gargoyle Strike of 1911... so boring! But Harry remembered when he had done that assignment and he got me the book at the library and told me exactly the pages I had to read to write that!_

_Speaking of writing, Harry is loving the glitter pens you sent! At first he didn’t believe that they were made by muggles, because he thought the ink was sparkling magically! And he wondered why nobody had thought of making glittery ink for quills! He thinks now quills are very dull if they can’t be used in glittery colours so he tried to come up with one! It was so nice! I didn’t even think we could make cool stuff like this using potions! Well, we tried to use one of the inks he had made, but it kind of ended up spilling all over the paper because it didn’t stick to the quill, so he has to keep trying, but at least we got a rainbow parchment and glitter everywhere. I can take that with me when I come back home for Christmas next week so you can see it!_

_Blimey, Lou, I’m going home in a week! Can you believe it? I’m so happy to finally see you and the others again! It feels like it’s been ages since I came to Hogwarts! I’m sad to be leaving though, but I’m missing you guys so bad. Even if we talk every week, it’s not the same! I can finally come home and show you all the things I talked to you about!_

_I’m expecting the whole family to pick me up at King’s Cross, ok?_

_I guess this is it, big bro!_

_See you soon!_

_Lots of Love!_

_Lottie xx_

Once again, Louis found himself already at his desk writing his reply to his sister after reading her letter.

_Dear Lottie,_

_Finally got your weekly update on the “Things I Did With Harry At Hogwarts” letters! I was dying to know what had happened after last week’s episode with the every flavour beans! By the way, you didn’t tell me, is he ok after having eaten the rotten egg one with the pepper one? You guys do some crazy bets there, specially that Niall boy. I mean, he’s crazy, why are you still friends with him?_

_Was he the one who told you to jinx the boy again? See, I think the problem is that Harry is still letting you close to this guy! I mean, I thought he was going to help keep you out of trouble. You keep talking about him being nice and friendly to you and helping you with homework and stuff, but I’ve read more of you being in trouble than out of it! That was not what he told me he would do, Lottie! What’s the point of making a promise if he can’t keep it? Tell him that he sucks at it because he’s the one putting you in detention! (also, stop jinxing people, for God’s sake, Lottie!)_

_But I’m glad he helped you with your homework, though… but, Gargoyles? Seriously? Were they like the ones in the Hunchback of Notre Dame? I hope so, that would be so cool, because apparently if hats can talk and ghosts exist, why not gargoyles that walk too, right? Anything is possible_

_Yeah, yeah, we will pick you up at the station. You don’t even have to tell mum to take the girls, because they can’t shut up about wanting to see real wizards! I don’t know how we’ll manage to go through the wall with 6 people without catching other’s attention, but we will all be there for you - even dad! A family get together just for you, sis. School will be over for the holidays anyway (thank God! Otherwise, another test would have killed me), so we can have the girls come with us too!_

_Can’t wait to see you again, little sis! And please, stay out of trouble until it’s time to come back home, since Mr. Perfect can’t do his job properly!_

_Love you and see you very soon!_

_Louis x_

Louis was feeling a little unease with what he had written about Harry in the letter, but there wasn’t anything else he could do other than write his discomfort to his sister. He knew Lottie was just a preteen and she was obviously going to mess around and do some stupid shit at school. He would be very hypocrite to assume that she would be an angel at school when he himself had to stay past school time to do detention almost every week – at the expense of his mother’s dread.

But this was a whole different situation and Harry Styles had looked him in the eye and told him he would take care of her, so the least he could expect was for Lottie to stay out of trouble if Harry was really watching out for her. But apparently, that was not happening.

He couldn’t deny that he was happy though, that Harry was a friend to Lottie. Of course she had other friends, she had mentioned a lot of them to Louis during their exchange of letters, but Louis had noticed how close Harry and Lottie had gotten. It was a good thing. He enjoyed reading what they were up to and Louis could very well imagine him with them doing all those things together, if he was a wizard. But if he was wizard, he would be at the same school as Lottie and would keep her out of trouble. But he wasn’t and he couldn’t be there and Harry was and Louis wanted to be mad at him for not doing what he had promised.

He couldn’t though, be completely mad at him, and he felt kinda guilty of what he had written to Lottie about the boy. But that was done already. Ruth was already taking his letter, along with his mother’s one, to Lottie and there was nothing he could do but wait for the next week to finally pick Lottie up at King’s Cross station again.

*

Louis was just arriving home from his classes on Tuesday when he looked up at the sky and saw a bird – well, not any bird, Louis had learned, but an owl – flying over the house and going directly to his room's window. He found that extremely weird, because one, it was Tuesday and Ruth had been in their house just 3 days ago, and two, she would _never_ enter their house through his room. Of course she had already entered by the living room window and not the kitchen or simply had landed on the garden’s table while they were having a picnic with the young girls. Even more weird was the fact that it was _his_ room. Ruth did not like Louis at all, he knew that and he had accepted that as his fate, so what on earth would Ruth be doing there?

He entered the house and called his mother, finding her in the kitchen making some snacks for the twins.

“Mum, did you receive any letter from Lottie today?” He asked, stealing one sandwich for himself.

“Today? No, love, why would I? We just got Lottie’s letter on Saturday, she’s not even going to write another letter this week because we’re picking her up already on Friday…” Jay looked at him confused.

“Hm, I think I just saw Ruth flying through my window?” He munched on the sandwich nonchalantly. His mother stopped cutting the cheese to look at him.

“That’s… unusual… Are you sure it was her?”

“What other bird would fly directly into our house? I don’t see pigeons that big and landing perfectly inside my room that often,” he shrugged, finishing his sandwich and making a funny face to the twins that were sitting by the table, who giggled.

“Do you want me to go check it with you?” Jay was already taking off her apron and placing the plates with the prepared sandwiches in front of the girls.

“I guess it would be better. I mean, I don’t know why she’s there and you know how she never lets me get close to her, so…” He shrugged again. He didn’t want to seem like he was terrified that the owl had come back to his house, to his room, probably to murder him... but he was.

“Alright, let’s get upstairs. Girls, don’t make a mess with the sandwiches, ok? I’ll be right back,” Jay kissed the top of both girls' heads as she placed a hand on Louis’ shoulder, guiding him out of the kitchen.

They went up the stairs and when Louis opened his bedroom door, carefully, he saw an owl standing on his desk. He was ready to get pissed at the bird for standing on top of his papers, but it wasn’t Ruth, he noticed. [The owl](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/White-faced_scops_owl_\(Otus_leucotis\).jpeg) standing there was a little thinner and smaller than Ruth and its feathers were in a greyish colour, mixed with black and white patterns and big orange eyes, that would open and close as it scratched its wings.

“That’s not Ruth…” Louis voiced his thoughts to his mother as they walked inside the room. The owl kept itching one of her wings with its beak.

“You’re right. It seems inoffensive, though,” Jay stated. The owl looked up at the sound of her voice and made a small hoot, turning her head slightly to Louis. “I think it’s got something for you, look,” Jay pointed at the feet of the bird, where there was an envelope.

“What? Is it from Lottie? Why would Lottie send another owl to deliver me a letter?” Louis walked slowly towards his desk, fearing that the owl would attack him. He had a reputation with owls, so just because this one didn’t seem as fierce as Ruth did, it didn’t mean he wasn’t suspicious of it.

He was a little nervous too, because maybe Lottie was pissed at him for what he had written in his previous letter. But even then, it was very unusual for her to send a letter so soon, and she had been pissed at him in other letters before, she didn’t need to send a separate one only for him just to say that she was mad at him.

His mother walked beside him and got to the desk first, scratching the top of the owl’s head with one hand and getting the envelope with the other and handing it to Louis.

Louis looked from the envelope to the owl, trying to figure out what all of that meant. He took the envelope from his mother’s hand and brought it close to his eyes, examining it to see a “ _To Louis Tomlinson”_ written in one side, in a handwriting that was not his sister’s. When he flipped it to look at the other side, he almost fell back. That couldn’t be right.

“It’s not from Lottie,” Louis said, almost in a whisper.

“No? Who’s it from, then? Who would send it to you, Lou?” Jay was now looking back at him and Louis only inhaled sharply before speaking again.

“Harry Styles,” he said, turning the envelope to his mother so she could read what was written as the sender.

Jay widened her eyes as she took the envelope back in her own hands.

“Did you write to him?” She asked, with a brow raised, still looking at the envelope.

“What? No! Why would… how? What the hell, mum, no!” Louis took the envelope from her hand and Jay only crossed her arms across her chest.

“I don’t know, maybe you wrote to him in one of the letters you sent Lottie. I don’t know what she writes about to you, you never let us read! So, it could well be that you were writing to him through her…”

“Mum, Christ, oh my God, no!” Louis was baffled by what his mother was saying. Why would she think that Louis was writing to Harry Styles, Lottie’s wizard friend, whom he had only spoken with once in his life, of all people?

“Alright, sorry! You don’t need to get so defensive! If you didn’t, then why did he write to you? Aren’t you going to read it?” Jay turned to the owl again, to pat it one more time.

Louis looked at the owl standing on his desk. So that probably was Harry’s owl. He wondered if it would be more willingly to let him pat it, though.

“Yes, of course,” he looked back at the envelope in his hands, but not daring to open it yet.

“Ok, I’ll leave you to read it, alone,” Jay said, scratching the owl’s head one more time and walking out of the room. She turned to Louis before closing the door. “When you finish, please let me know what he needed to tell you, I’m curious now!” She winked at him and Louis groaned as his mother closed the door completely, and he received a hoot back from the owl in answer.

“Alright, let me see what your owner has to tell me,” Louis sighed deeply, looking at the owl one more time before opening the envelope.

He took the paper in his hand to see a full page written. The handwriting was a little bit sloppy but he didn’t have difficulty to read it.

Louis sat on his bed and wriggled until his back was hitting the headboard of it. He breathed heavily once again before finally settling in to read the letter.

_Dear Louis,_

_How are you? I hope you’re doing fine._

_I’m sorry if I took you by surprise by sending Marcel (my owl) to deliver this letter. I didn’t want Lottie to know I was writing_ _to you, so I didn’t bother asking her to let me use Ruth._

_I guess I should start explaining why I’m writing this letter to you, and I hope this isn’t an inconvenience since we have never talked apart from that one time when we met at King’s Cross._

_So, Lottie may have mentioned that you were worried that I wasn’t taking care of her like I said I would. She didn’t want to tell me that, but she was so upset reading the letter you had written to her that she spitted it all out, saying, her words not mine, that you keep treating her like a baby._

_I just wanted you to know that I AM taking care of her. I would never break the promise I made you a few months ago. I’m not one to break promises like that, I swear. I was so happy when she was sorted in Slytherin because then I could keep a close watch on her and not disappoint you. She’s my friend and I really want the best for her. But sometimes it’s hard to keep her out of trouble, you know? And being a prefect, I can’t just let things slip. I also have to teach her some discipline. I feel very bad for taking her to detention every time and I always tell her to be more careful and to stop jinxing people, but she has a strong personality. You, as her brother, must know that better than me._

_And as her older brother, I understand the concern you have about her. I have an older sister too and she was the same with me during my first year and as the younger sibling, I also understand Lottie not wanting you to worry so much about her. Sometimes she even says that I don’t need to do all the_ _things I do for her, because she doesn’t want me to worry about her too, but I do because she’s like a little sister to me. I really like her, so I would never really let anything bad happen to her._

_So, what I want to say is, I’m sorry that you got upset that it seemed I broke our promise. I didn’t. Lottie is being taken care of very dearly! I’ll ask Niall to stop teaching her unnecessary spells, just so she can keep herself out of trouble. But she’s having so much fun here, it’s so nice to see her discovering all these things, because I grew up with it, so for me it was natural, but for her, it’s something completely new! And she keeps mentioning how she wanted you to be here with her so you could see it all. She talks about you all the time. She loves and misses you very much, and I know you do too, otherwise you wouldn’t have asked me to take care of her and that’s why I would never take our promise for granted!_

_I’m sending you some pictures that I took of her so you know that she’s enjoying her time here!_

_I hope you enjoy them!_

_And rest assured that I’ll keep taking care of her while I’m still here, ok?_

_Sorry for bothering you with this letter, once again._

_Happy Christmas, Louis._

_Yours sincerely,_

_H._

_PS: Marcel is very obedient and docile, but also needy, so he might want to cuddle before you send him back to me. You can give him some treats too if you want, he mostly enjoys blueberries! xx_

Louis couldn’t believe what he had just read.

Louis couldn’t believe Harry Styles had just written to him to apologize for the fact that Louis merely thought that he wasn’t keeping his promise.

Harry Styles, a wizard, had written to him to make sure Louis wasn’t upset with him.

That was not something that happened every day.

He read the letter again, trying to let Harry’s words sink in.

(He was almost certain there was a hidden “fuck you” in that letter, but he wasn’t very sure.)

He let the paper rest beside him afterwards and looked inside the envelope to find three smaller pieces of paper. Louis took one of them out and was shocked, almost dropping everything on his bed far away from him, when he saw that it was the photos that Harry had mentioned, but, those weren’t normal photos. The photos were moving. Louis' eyes widened when he saw that Lottie was one of the people moving in the picture. It was almost as if it was on loop, Lottie smiling at the boy beside her while eating what Louis assumed was breakfast.

Louis turned the photo around to check if there was something written in it, and found “ _Lottie and Niall after Niall cracked a joke_ ” on the back. He turned it again to look at the boy beside his sister. So that was the infamous Niall. Even though he was making his sister laugh, he still wasn’t very fond of this boy.

He placed the photo with the letter and looked at the next one. That was with Lottie and another girl, walking around an open lawn, with their wands out. Louis turned the photo to see “ _Lottie and Danny trying to make the clouds have different shapes_ ” written on the back.

The next photo was of Lottie, alone, holding a piece of paper that seemed to be dripping ink of different colours. Lottie was laughing so hard Louis could almost hear her laughter in his mind. He turned the photo to read “ _Lottie when we tried to test our glittery ink. It didn’t work very well, but we had fun. Thanks for her glitter pens, though”_ and also a smiley face in a glittery green Louis knew was from one of his sister’s pens.

He laughed, almost crying, because he couldn’t believe that was real. He had never asked for this and yet, there was Harry, sending him proof that his sister was having fun and enjoying her time at Hogwarts.

He tried to clear his throat to recompose himself, and in return, he got a screech from the owl – Marcel – beside him.

“Your owner is unbelievable, did you know? Is he always like this?” Louis asked, gathering all the papers and getting up from the bed. Marcel only blinked very slowly at him and tilted his head.

Louis took it as an invitation and cautiously approached the owl, carefully extending his hand to pat his head. Surprisingly, the owl accepted Louis’ gesture and let Louis scratch his feathers. Louis breathed relieved, because if it was Ruth, she would have pecked him and attacked him already. Marcel was a whole other level of bird. Maybe it was all the training Harry must have given him, or maybe Ruth just straight up hated Louis. 

“Alright, pal, let’s get you something to eat,” Louis opened his arm out to the side to Marcel and the bird leaped into it, sinking his claws into Louis’ skin.

He went downstairs carefully with Marcel in one arm and letter in his other hand. He found his mother in the living room, with the twins sprawled on the floor colouring some paper while watching telly.

“Louis… what… this owl… how?” Jay exclaimed, almost jumping from the sofa when Louis stepped inside the room. The girls turned their attention from the telly to Louis, looking just as excited with the strange owl.

“I don’t know. I’m guessing Ruth is the problem, and not me, see?” Louis scratched Marcel’s neck with the back of his hand. “Do we have any blueberries? I think this little fella must be hungry.”

“Yeah, let’s go to the kitchen, I’ll get some,” Jay got up and led them to the kitchen. The twins followed them around, asking Louis to let them pat the bird.

Louis sat at the kitchen table and placed his arm on top of it, letting Marcel get off his arm while Jay got a bag of fresh blueberries from the fridge and the twins patted him.

She sat beside Louis, extending a blueberry to Marcel, who accepted it without ceremony.

“So, what did Harry want to say to you?” She asked, pulling the letter from where the boy had laid it on the table.

“He wanted to apologize,” Louis said, caressing Marcel’s feathers with his index finger. Jay darted him a confused look and Louis continued. “I may have told Lottie that I thought he wasn’t taking care of her like he said he would.” He was actually ashamed of admitting that to his mother and the look of disapproval in her eyes made him feel worse.

“Lou! Why did you say that?”

“Did she tell you that she got into detention?” Louis replied and Jay only nodded while scanning her eyes through the letter, “Well, if he really was taking care of her, she wouldn’t have–”

“I can’t believe you, Louis!” Jay shook her head as she placed the letter back on the table and gave Marcel another blueberry.

“What? He promised you too that he would look after her!” Louis shrugged, trying to defend himself.

“He didn’t promise me anything, Louis and even if he had, he has absolutely no obligation to do anything,” Jay inhaled sharply. “Lottie is a big girl and yes, I’m a bit terrified of her being on her own out there, but if she needs any kind of help, there are a lot of teachers there that can help and can also take care of her. Harry is a friend and I’m glad he has been her friend since day one, mostly because of you, so you should be glad and not accuse this sweet boy of not doing something that is not his responsibility,” Jay put a hand on top of Louis’.

Louis closed his eyes for a moment. He knew what his mother was saying, he knew he was overreacting. “I know, it’s just, you know, I’m not there and I just wanted someone to–”

“Louis, love, she’s fine! She doesn’t need a guardian twenty-four seven to watch her every move. Not even you did that when she was still here. Honestly, Harry is a blessing for even staying friends with her. He’s so much older than her, he must have so many other responsibilities, taking care of her shouldn’t be one, and he’s doing it mostly because you asked. I don’t understand why this promise is so important to both of you,” Jay squeezed Louis’ hand, making him look at her again. “Unless, you know…” She smirked at him.

Louis sighed. “Ugh, mum, please stop! Seriously! It’s just that he promised, ok?” He pulled his hand away from his mother’s and took one blueberry in his hand, giving it to Marcel, who accepted it in a bite and went back to playing with the girls. “I know I’m being childish and all, but, you know I hate breaking promises, right? And I just don’t want Lottie to have problems in a place we don’t know and we can’t help her and I know he’s taking care of her and he kind of is right to take her to detention, because she did something wrong, but still. I don’t want her to be in any trouble at all and now I feel bad that he found out about it.”

“Then tell him that. You will reply him, right?” Jay asked, getting up from the table to get a piece of paper and a pen from the counter.

“I should, right? After all, he had the trouble to write to me and actually send me pictures to prove that Lottie was ok… did you see them?” Louis raised the photos in his hand and his mother only nodded, getting back to the table.

“Those are really lovely. I didn’t know they could take pictures! And they move! Look Daisy, Phoebe! It’s Lottie here, doesn’t she look so dashing? Did he take these himself?”

“I guess so, I– anyway, he didn’t have to do all this I just feel bad.”

“Here, write him back, will you?” She pushed the paper and the pen in his direction. “And please be polite, Louis. This boy is kinder and more special than anyone I’ve ever known. Don’t keep him hanging, ok?” She kissed the top of his head and patted Marcel once again. “Did he tell you the name of the owl?”

“It’s Marcel,” Louis answered, patting Marcel’s head.

“Well, tell him that Marcel is a very nice owl, that he deserves a medal for being so polite to you. Lottie might have mentioned how you and Ruth don’t get along very well, so he probably told him nice things about you. I think both of them really like you! Come on, girls, it’s time to go take a shower. Say bye to Marcel.” Jay patted Louis on the shoulder and walked away with the twins bickering after her over who Marcel liked more.

“Mum, please,” Louis rolled his eyes. When would his mother stop with the insinuations that he and Harry might’ve liked each other? Well, not that Louis didn’t like Harry. But it was not like that. Anyhow, that was not the point. He just didn’t know where his mother could see that happening. And why would Harry say nice things about Louis to his owl? His mother was clearly out of her mind.

Louis kept on patting Marcel’s head while he started writing his reply to Harry. Sorry Daisy, sorry Phoebe, but it seemed Louis was his absolute favourite.

_Dear Harry,_

_First of all, I want to apologize for making you send Marcel all the way over here. It wasn’t necessary, really, but a very nice surprise._

_Second, I want to apologize for making you think I was mad at you or that I didn’t think you’d keep your promise._

_I’m sorry about what Lottie said. Yes, I told her that, but it was only out of frustration, because I can’t be with Lottie to see what’s she’s up to. She’s my baby sister and all I want is for her to be safe and out of trouble and I hate that I’m far away from her. When_ _she used to go to school back here, I was always there to help her and now I can’t and I took it out on you for actually doing what you’re supposed to. I shouldn’t have done that._

_I’m glad she’s got you. If she didn’t, I bet she would’ve done worse than just jinx a boy (she’s my sister, after all). You’re there to keep her on track when she does something wrong, and that’s what she needs. You’re a good friend Harry. Lottie is always telling us how good you are to her, so yeah._

_Thank you for keeping an eye on her, thanks for keeping your promise, even though you don’t need to! (and thank you for the photos, too. Those are really nice. You took some beautiful ones!)_

_And sorry, once again!_

_Have a nice holiday you too!_

_Best regards,_

_Louis xx_

_Ps: Marcel is lovely! He’s having a feast with the blueberries I’m giving him right now! Ruth would never let me feed her like that. Please, tell Lottie to teach that bitch of an owl some manners!_

Louis folded the paper and got up to find an envelope in one of the drawers. He put the letter inside it and closed it.

He fed Marcel some more blueberries and gave him water before preparing him to fly back to Harry. He patted him for a few more minutes and when he noticed that the owl was almost falling asleep, he got up from the table with him in his arm, and went outside the house. Marcel took the envelope in his beak and opened his wings.

The owl flew higher as Louis watched him go. He wondered what Harry would think of his letter. He would have to wait until Lottie got back to know if Harry had mentioned anything. Until then, he would try not to keep thinking about it, because really, there was nothing to think about. It was just a letter. A simple apology and thank you letter. Nothing more than that.

*****

Friday morning, the Tomlinson family was heading from Doncaster to London to pick Lottie up. Jay had warned the girls to stay quiet and try not to draw attention to them when they’d arrive at King’s Cross, but the girls couldn’t stop talking about everything they wanted Lottie to show them, even if they were just there to get Lottie from platform 9 ¾ for 5 minutes max and then head back home.

Louis tried to entertain them from their parents bickering by telling them what he had seen when he had gone there in September, but also, being the jokester that he was, he almost got the girls scared when telling them that if they didn’t behave, the wall they would have to go through would swallow them. And because of that, he received a reprehensible look from both Jay and Mark from the front seats of the car.

Louis ignored them though, because he loved teasing the girls and at least this way they could help him get a little distracted. He was trying, as much as he could to stop thinking about everything that was happening: his parents fighting, his 18th birthday and also Harry’s letter on Tuesday – the latter being the most unexpected one. On Wednesday he was fine, he had managed to sleep without re-reading Harry’s letter 5 five times, differently from Tuesday; but when he got back home on Thursday afternoon and found a note addressed to him left on his desk and his window wide open and also a grey feather with it, Louis knew what it meant and his mind started to become a mess.

It wasn’t another letter from Harry per se. It was a simple note, where Harry had written “ _You’re very welcome, again. Happy Christmas and happy early birthday, H_.”

Harry didn’t need to send him another letter, or note, or especially a happy birthday wish. But he still did it anyway and Louis couldn’t stop thinking that Harry was one of the kindest and most attentive people he had met and it made his heart hurt a little because, he had met Harry, yes, but would he really know him? He was his sister’s friend; he was from a complete different world. It couldn’t work out well.

And now he was nervous because maybe he was hoping he could bump into Harry when they’d meet Lottie at the platform. And what would he say to him? Louis was still embarrassed for the whole misunderstanding, but he was actually shy, something he never was, because you simply don’t exchange letters with people you don’t know or don’t want to get to know.

And that’s why he was trying all he could to keep his mind off from wondering what could happen later, making the girls laugh, and sometimes cry too.

Arriving at King’s Cross was something that helped him get his mind off the constant thoughts of _harry harry harry_. He felt that same feeling from September, that feeling of everybody looking at them as though they were going to do something illegal, even more now with his whole family there. But he wasn’t afraid anymore, he knew what to expect when he crossed the pillar and he made sure to tell the girls that everything he had said in the car was just banter and if they held their parents hand, they wouldn’t even notice they had entered a whole different world.

When he opened his eyes and saw that he was at platform 9 ¾ , he breathed, relieved, but he still got the jitters when he looked around to see hundreds of people dressed the same and the big old Express in front of him.

“So what, now?” Asked Mark, looking around, with the twins holding his hand. Jay ignored him.

“Where’s Lottie, mum?” Fizzy asked, pulling the hem of her mother’s coat sleeve.

“I don’t know, love, she might appear any minute, so keep an eye on the train, will you?” Jay answered, caressing her hair.

“I think I will stay close to the train, then. I’ll take Phoebe and Daisy with me. Fizzy, wanna come with dad too?” Mark took both girls in his arms and Fizzy got closer to him, walking towards the train, where other parents were already lining up to wait for their children.

Louis kept looking around, to see if any student had already left the train and he wanted to stay calm, but biting his nails wasn’t helping.

“Lou, are you alright?” Jay caught his attention and he turned to look at his mother.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Louis bit his bottom lip.

“Excited to see Lottie… or Harry?” She nudged him with her elbow, making him almost jump from where he was.

“Mum, what the…” He shook his head, embarrassed.

“Oh, Louis, please, I know you hid the note he sent you.”

Louis looked up, alarmed. “How did…”

“Well, how do you think Marcel got inside your room? Your window was closed and I heard a loud noise coming from it, so I went upstairs and let him in…”

“Oh my God, I can’t believe… did you… did read it?”

“No, of course not, Louis, I’m not nosy! I would never read your mail, but I guess he was very considerate to send you another letter,” Jay smiled at him, softly.

“Well, it wasn’t a letter. It was just a note, like, very simple, just saying thanks again. And a happy birthday,” Louis shrugged, burying his hands inside his jeans pockets.

“Oh my, Lottie must have told him! So, are you excited to see him again?” Jay instigated.

Louis only shrugged again because he didn’t know. He didn’t know why a simple letter and a note had make him feel so anxious. Harry was nothing extraordinary. He was just a boy. A boy who was his baby sister’s friend. A boy who was helping Louis’ sister because Louis had asked him to. A boy who wanted Louis to be sure he was keeping his promise. And why was that, Louis didn’t know.

“Look, mum, Lottie’s here!” Jay and Louis heard Fizzy’s yell, making them dart their attention back to the direction of the train. And there was Lottie and Fizzy holding the twins, with Mark carrying her belongings behind them.

“Lottie!” Jay opened her arms as soon as the girl stepped closer to her and embraced her. “Oh pretty girl, I’ve missed you so much.” Louis could see the tears falling down his mother’s cheeks and he tried to keep his own from falling too.

“Missed you too, mum!” Lottie said, muffled by the hug, but Louis could hear her voice was cracking.

“Are you alright? Look at you, you look so different!” Jay cupped Lottie’s face in her hands, kissing her cheeks. “Is this what becoming a witch looks like? I might want to become one too, you look so good, my gorgeous!”

“Mum, please!” Lottie giggled and her mother squeezed her tightly one more time before taking Phoebe from her arms and letting her go.

“Mmhmm… so, the big brother here doesn’t get a hug too?” Louis voiced, nonchalantly.

“Lou!” Lottie simply ran to him, throwing her arms around his middle and hugging him tight, almost rocking them down. Louis held her back, almost lifting her up. He felt his heart burst with happiness for finally holding his little sister. He thought he knew how much he was missing her, but in that moment, he realized he had missed her so much more.

“How are you, little sis?” He asked, kissing the top of her head.

“I’ve missed you so much! I’m so happy to see you again!” Lottie sniffed on Louis t-shirt and, bloody hell, Louis couldn’t hold the tears anymore.

“Oi, stop making me cry in the middle of all these wizards!” He joked, but his cracking voice gave him away.

“You cry all the time when we are watching Disney movies, Lou!” Fizzy said and Louis only opened his eyes to look at her and poked his tongue out.

“And you can’t seem to keep a secret, Fiz!” He answered back, letting go of Lottie to take a look down at her. “You didn’t answer my question… how are you?” He dried the tears in his eyes with the back of his hand.

“Good! Happy! Very happy that I can finally see you! And you all are here! I need to find Danny! She’s dying to meet the girls!” Lottie was jumping in excitement. “Mum, can I take the girls to meet Danny? I mean, you can all come too, she wants to meet everyone!”

“Yes, love, where is she? Fizzy, take Phoebe’s and Daisy’s hand, please. Mark, you coming?” Jay looked to all of them and Mark only nodded, starting to walk behind Lottie, who led the way through the people.

“Lottie!” Louis heard someone shout from behind him and he didn’t know why that voice seemed familiar to him.

He turned his head to find Harry, curls a little bit longer and wilder than almost 4 months ago. He was wearing the same robe Louis had first seen him in, and he pretty much looked the same, but somehow, Louis could see that he had already grown up a bit.

“Lottie! Are you going home already?” Harry called again, now walking towards the Tomlinsons when they all stopped to see who was calling Lottie.

“Harry! I thought you had left. No, I’m trying to find Danny, have you seen her?” Lottie walked back to meet Harry.

“No, not since I left you with her in your compartment, I’m sorry!” Harry smiled sadly at her but then looked up to acknowledge the rest of the family. “Oh, hi, sorry! You must be the rest of Lottie’s family then! Hello, Mrs. Tomlinson, Mr. Tomlinson,” Harry was now smiling widely at all of them, while extending his hand to Jay, who took it, but only to pull him close and kiss him on the cheek.

“Please, Harry, I already told you can call me Jay! Lovely to see you again! And yes, this is the rest of the Tomlinson pack! This is my husband Mark,” she pointed to Mark, who extended his hand to Harry and the two of them shook, while extending a quick “nice to meet you”, “and these are the other girls, the twins, Phoebe and Daisy”, Harry waved at them, continuing to smile, which made his dimple more prominent than Louis had seen before. “And Felicité!” Harry turned to her, smiling too.

“Oh, you’re Fizzy, then! Lottie was very happy you didn’t use all her glitter pens so she could show them to me!” Harry ruffled the top of her brownish hair, making her giggle.

“And, mhm” Jay tried to be subtle to catch Harry’s attention, clearing her throat slightly, which made Harry look at her again, “of course, you remember Louis?” She tilted her head in Louis’ direction and he could feel his cheeks getting warm and he just wanted his mother to stop embarrassing him for once.

“Yes, Louis, of course! Couldn’t forget him, even if I tried,” Harry said very calm and Louis almost choked on his own breath as he widened his eyes and saw Lottie chuckling. “With Lottie talking about him all the time, it was impossible to forget about him and our promise, of course,” Harry babbled and Louis could breathe a little better now, but still, he was a little disorientated, but he couldn’t let anyone see that.

“Well, it was quite hard to forget about you too, Mr. Perfect,” Louis smirked and looked at Lottie, who instantly became red as a tomato and covered her face with both her hands, muffling an irritated “Louis!”

“Perfect? No, it’s not...” Harry was looking confused at him, almost as red as Lottie.

“Well, isn’t that why you wear this shiny thing?” Louis pointed teasingly at the badge with a big P pinned to Harry’s robe.

“Yes, but it’s not Mr. Perfect, it’s Mr. Pre—I mean, Prefect! I’m a Prefect, yes. No Mr., no,” Harry was trying to sound coherent but he was simply lost by Louis’ wit. Score!

“You know what I mean, curls,” Louis was now feeling more at ease, back at his element, being even able to wink at Harry, who gulped and suppressed a smile.

“For Merlin’s sake, Louis, please! I have already asked you a million times, you’re so embarrassing!” Lottie said, looking back at him.

“A minute ago you were dying because you missed me and now you’re saying I embarrass you? What kind of attitude is that? Harry, what have you been teaching her?” Louis joked, putting his hands on his hips and looking from Lottie to Harry.

“Ugh Lou!” Lottie groaned, making everyone around them laugh. They all knew how in a moment she would love Louis to death but also let him drive her crazy. They were all used to these banters at home. 

Lottie then turned to Jay, who was only observing the whole thing with a smile in her face and endearment in her eyes. “Mum, let’s go find Danny, please. l can’t miss her going home without you all meeting her! And Harry,” she turned back to the boy, “did you have something to say to me?”

Harry shook his head, “No, it was nothing really serious...”

“Right! And Louis, please stay exactly where you are. You’ve already embarrassed me enough. Bye again, Harry!” She didn’t even wait for Louis to reply. She only turned to her heels, taking Fizzy by the hand, making her and the twins walk again with her. Mark shook his head, told Louis to wait for them and followed the girls. Jay took a second longer to look at Harry and Louis standing side by side, before winking at Louis and turning away.

Louis rolled his eyes and breathed heavily. He was trying to stay in control of the situation, but his mother always had the power to shake his confidence, making him feel all nervous again.

He didn’t know what to do now. Harry was standing beside him, not awkwardly though. He could sense Harry was looking at him, but he didn’t know what to do or what to say, or even if he could turn and meet Harry’s eyes.

“So,” Harry was the one to break the silence, making Louis finally look at him. He could sense that Harry was actually a little bit nervous too, which was good; at least he wasn’t the only one. “Thank you, for hm, answering my letter,” Harry said, biting his bottom lip.

“Oh, no, that was… nothing. I mean, that was the least I could do, since you had written to me and I guess I can now apologise in person, because you didn’t need to write, really. I’m sorry I freaked out on you about Lottie,” Louis felt the need to explain himself one more time, as he had the opportunity with Harry right there in front of him.

“Nah, I understand and again, I’m sorry for what it looked like. Lottie’s is a special girl, she’s awesome and lucky for having a brother who wants to look after her and a lovely, supporting family,” Harry shyly smiled at him and Louis could see his green eyes shine so bright.

“Yeah, I know, and she was lucky to have you too. I mean, as a friend… She seems to love you already, in a friendly way, I mean…” Louis was losing his train of thought, he didn’t even know what he was talking about. Of course Lottie liked Harry as a friend. What the hell was he saying?

“Yeah, I love her too,” Harry chuckled, “she’s like a little sister to me.”

“Oi, I’m the big brother here, don’t try to steal her away from me! You’ve already influenced her enough being her wizard friend with all your impressive spells and tricks!” Louis nudged Harry with his elbow and the other boy blinked a little surprised.

“I would never! She’s not the one I want to impr–”

“STYLES!” Harry’s rambling was interrupted by someone shouting behind them. Louis was confused for a moment, both for what he thought Harry was going to say, and also for the person who had just interrupted them.

“Harry Styles, come the fuck on! Your parents are waiting. Did you find Lo… oh!” A blond guy approached them, stopping right by Harry, hugging him from behind.

“Yeah, I found _her,_ ” Harry replied, tilting his head a little in Louis’ direction, "I’ll be right there, Nialler. Gimme a sec, ok?” Harry patted the arms around him and said to whom Louis now recognised as Niall.

“Okay! 5 seconds then! Bye, Louis! Nice to meet you,” Niall laughed and gave a wet kiss on Harry’s cheek, before walking back to where he had come from. Louis was not impressed.

“Er, I guess I’ve got to go now,” Harry scratched the back of his neck, eyes looking down at his feet. “Can you please tell Lottie goodbye for me?”

“Yep, no problem,” Louis only nodded curtly and Harry looked up, smiling at him again.

“Thank you,” Harry looked around and Louis noticed Harry was a little hesitant to actually move and leave. “I… Hm, Happy Holidays, Louis!” Harry extended his hand to Louis, who took a second to react and accept it.

“You too, Harry… see you around?” Louis shook his hand and he didn’t know whose were colder and sweatier, his or Harry’s.

“Yeah, see you,” Harry shook their hands one last time before taking one step away. “Oh! I almost forgot! Happy Birthday!” For a second Louis thought he was going to come back and hug him, but Harry just waved and went away.

Louis waved back with a small smile and stood there, watching Harry walk to where his parents must’ve been. And if he saw Harry looking back to where he was before a blond tornado took his attention away again, he thanked all Gods and wizards that nobody was there to witness that.

With a week until his birthday and Christmas, this short interaction felt like an early delightful gift to Louis. Harry Styles was sweet like that.

 

_**January, 2010** _

 

The holidays break had always been Louis’ favourite part of the year, especially because of his birthday being on Christmas’ eve.

That year, though, Louis had enjoyed it more than the others had. He had finally turned 18 and Lottie, after spending almost 4 months away, was finally home to spend some time with the family and share with them everything she hadn’t told them through their letters.

Although she was forbidden to practice magic outside of Hogwarts, numerous were the threats she had given Louis and his younger sisters whenever they were playing together inside the house or snowball fighting in the backyard.

Louis would keep those memories in his mind for a long time, so whenever he missed his sister he would remember how much they all had a great time together that Christmas.

Having her for almost 3 weeks at home wasn’t enough for him to stop missing her. When Jay and Mark had taken her back to London to catch the Hogwarts Express, Louis almost didn’t let her go. He only did though when she promised him again that she wouldn’t stop writing to him and also after promising she would tell Harry that he didn’t have to play Lottie’s guardian angel anymore, because she had also promised she would stop jinxing every annoying boy she would find at school.

Speaking of Harry, they had received a small note from him right before New Year's, addressed to the whole family (Louis didn’t feel sad because of that, nope, not at all), wishing them a happy and wonderful beginning of the year. Marcel, this time, entered by the kitchen window and Louis was the first one to get to the owl, happy to pat him, since Ruth was still ruthless with him. Lottie was very surprised to see how well Louis and Marcel had gotten along and if he had noticed that Ruth was a little bit jealous of his PDA with Marcel, he only smirked, because it was his sister’s owl’s loss, since Marcel seemed to enjoy Louis’ scratches, thank you very much.

As Louis hadn’t gone to London with his parents, he had missed the chance to meet Harry once again. And he was kinda glad for that, because he didn’t want to add fuel to this small crush he was developing for the boy. Yes, he had admitted he had a crush on him, but there was nothing he could do about it, he also came to that conclusion. All he could do, though, was to keep reading what Lottie had to tell him about what she and Harry were up to once she got back to Hogwarts.

January followed the same pattern as the previous months, with Lottie sending weekly letters to the family and one solely to Louis, and he was more than happy to keep on writing to her, even if it was just to tell her that he couldn’t wait to finish school and finally go to college.

On the last week of January, Lottie’s letter came with a request Louis had to re-read maybe 10 times before deciding what he would do.

_LOUIS!!!!!!!!_

_Yes, I’m this desperate, please help me!_

_I’m such a bad friend :(_

_I just found out that Harry’s birthday is next week and I really want to give him a gift but there’s nothing I can do for him right now! I can’t go to Hogsmeade to buy anything (and I won’t ask Niall to buy something for me there, because he wouldn’t be able to keep it a surprise from Harry) and I think I also don’t want to prepare something magical for him._

_I should have known before when his birthday was, because if I knew it back then when I was at home, we could have bought him something and I would have brought it here. And now I’m stuck here and, so, you’re my only hope!_

_Can you please, pretty, P-R-E-T-T-Y P-L-E-A-S-E buy something for Harry and send it through Ruth next week? I can even send her on Friday instead of Saturday so it can arrive earlier! His birthday is on the 1_ _ st _ _!_

 _A_ _s I said, I think I want to give him something that is not magical and also useful. He’s been studying a lot and I think he could use like a normal notebook? Maybe some pens too? He’s really in love with them and he said that he kept trying to think of a way to improve his magical ink during the holidays! Oh, maybe you could buy him those pens that has 4 colours in one? He would love that!_

_Please, Lou, tell me you can do it! I will love you even more if you do!!!!!!_

_Other than that, everything is normal. Classes and homework and… oh, I need to memorize ingredients for some potions and I’m really enjoying it! I just enjoy Potions so much, I think it’s my favourite class! Even though Professor Slughorn is sometimes a bit of a knob. Anyway. Maybe if I practice enough, I can help Harry with the ink thing he’s trying!_

_Anyway, I guess that’s it! I just really wanted to ask you about Harry’s birthday gift! So please, FOR THE LOVE OF MERLIN, buy it for me! Imagine how happy Harry will be with it!!!!_

_Love you so so so so much big bro! :D :D :D_

_Lottie xx_

It wasn’t something he really had to overthink. Lottie was just asking him to buy a gift for a friend. She had already done this before, asking him to buy sweets for her friends at school whenever it was one of their birthdays.

Somehow, this felt more special. It was for Harry. And Harry was different. He wasn’t just a normal friend, he was Lottie’s wizard friend who Louis just happened to have a tiny, oh so small, insignificant really, crush on. Perhaps. Maybe.

(Who was he kidding, Louis had a fucking huge crush on that curly bastard.)

And now Lottie was asking Louis to buy him something as simple as a notebook. A notebook. The guy could fly, make shit float and jinx people and his sister wanted him to buy Harry a muggle notebook as a gift. Would it be enough to please someone who was a wizard and could do anything anytime he wanted?

(He couldn’t kiss Louis though. Because Louis was a bloody muggle with a crush living in Doncaster, while Harry was a prefect somewhere in Scotland)

It shouldn’t be such a life or death situation in Louis’ mind. It shouldn’t. But what if whatever he decided to buy, Harry didn’t like? Harry could hate what Louis would buy for him and then Lottie would be disappointed because he had literally one job to do.

But again, it was just a gift. Lottie wasn’t asking Louis to buy a house or a car for Harry. It shouldn’t really matter if Louis had gotten something that Harry would love. The intention behind the gift was what counted… Lottie’s intention to give Harry a gift, that was what it counted. Lottie’s. Louis was just the messenger.

After too much walking in circles in his bedroom and wondering what to do, Louis decided that he was just being overdramatic over a simple task and he finally sat down to write his reply to Lottie saying that, yes, he would buy Harry’s gift for her. The worst that could happen was the other boy hating it and never talking to Lottie again, but Louis thought he knew Harry just a little bit to know that even if the boy hated whatever he would buy, he would be too polite to actually say something to Lottie. So, it didn’t matter. What mattered was Louis making his sister happy for being able to give her friend a gift, even if it sucked.

Not wanting to dwell on the task so he wouldn’t keep over-thinking it, Louis dragged Stan to a stationery store on the following Monday to see if he could find anything for Harry’s gift.

“Where again is your sister studying?” Stan asked as they walked around the store’s aisles, looking around for notebooks.

“Er, it’s a boarding school up north,” Louis tried to sound as normal as possible, not giving away too much. Nobody, outside their family, could know about Lottie being a witch. And it wasn’t even because they were afraid of people finding out, but because it was literally the wizard’s law.

“Man, why so far away? It looks like she’s being held prisoner there. She can’t even leave the place and you have to buy her stuff…”

“Stan, she’s eleven. She can’t just leave school whenever she wants, even if she was studying here,” Louis rolled his eyes at his friend, “and it’s just, they offer a really good education there, so, talk to my parents if you want to complain about my sister studying far away.” Louis repeated for the millionth time, more focused on the task at hand than properly answering Stan.

“Whoa, sorry mate. I was just wondering, because we have good schools here too, but, yeah, sorry. It’s none of my business,” Stan clapped his hand on Louis’ back in apology, “So, what are we looking for exactly?”

“I don’t know, man. She just wants pens and a notebook.”

“Is it like, a normal notebook? For her studies? Or do you think she wants something else? Because I think she might have enough school supplies there, maybe she wants a journal, you know, girls her age love to write diaries and stuff, to write about their crushes...”

As Stan spoke, Louis’ eyes caught sight of one shelf full of smaller notebooks, journals actually, and an idea occurred to him.

He knew Lottie had asked for a notebook so Harry could study, but that wasn’t something special for a birthday gift. A journal yes, that would be a great gift, something more personal; but if Harry wanted he could use it for his studies, to keep track of what he wanted to do - although Louis imagined he didn’t necessarily need it, because well, he could find magical ways for that. A journal seemed like a good idea anyway.

“Hm, I guess you’re right, maybe she didn’t want to tell me that. I think she might like it,” Louis approached the shelf, inspecting the different types of journals there. Now the task was to find one that Harry would probably like.

He went through some that looked too childish and dismissed them, making Stan look at him confused.

“I think she might like something that wouldn’t call so much attention,” Louis only shrugged, knowing this was a lame excuse, but Stan couldn’t know it was for Lottie’s older, male and wizard friend.

He looked at some other journals until he found one that caught his attention. The cover was light brown, in a faux leather texture. He took it in his hands and undid the strap that was holding the cover. Inside, the pages were yellowish, but plain. It was nothing extraordinary, a very simple journal, but Louis could kinda picture Harry carrying it around. It kinda matched the old aesthetic he had noticed wizards tended to have.

“This one? Really?” Stan questioned Louis, with an unamused look. “How old is your sister again?”

“Excuse me, whose sister is she? She kinda likes old-fashioned stuff.”

“You could at least buy one with some glitter, I don’t know, mate. Even if she likes this stuff, it doesn’t seem very girly to me.”

Louis puffed, turning to face Stan and putting one hand on his shoulder. “When your sister asks you to buy a notebook for her, you buy her that one with the Barbie on drugs on the cover, ok? Just let me do my thing, alright? Now go find me those pens with 4 different colours in it, will ya?”

Stan only rolled his eyes and turned to go to the pens and pencils aisle.

Louis turned the journal in his hand one more time, feeling it, and doing the straps again to close it.

Yeah, this could be a great birthday gift for Harry.

Stan returned with 2 pens in hand, one that had the blue, black, red and green colours in it and another one with purple, pink, blue and green in it. Louis couldn’t blame Stan for actually thinking that he was there buying the things for his sister; in fact, he thought that he could actually give those to Harry since Lottie had said he was fascinated by her glitter pens.

He looked at the items in hand as they left the store after paying and yes, it might’ve have looked like they were simple, but Louis was confident Harry would appreciate them.

Arriving at home, he rushed to his room to wrap them in gift paper. He was sat at his desk, gift almost done when something popped in his mind.

“No, Louis, that would be too much. You aren’t even friends with the boy,” Louis voiced his thoughts as he shook his head and stopped what he was doing to breathe heavily. “But, just a little note won’t hurt, will it? I mean, he wrote me a Christmas _and_ a birthday note… it’s not that weird to write one back, right?” Louis talked to himself and if he seemed a little bit crazy he was glad nobody was there to see it and to see him grabbing a piece of paper from his drawer.

He pondered what he would say for awhile before fetching a pen and finally writing it down.

_Dear Harry,_

_Happy Birthday!_

_I hope you like your gift. Lottie was very excited to give it to you. Well, so am I. I don’t know if you wizards use these, but we muggles like to write down everything that's on our minds in journals like this one. I hope you like it and use it as you wish._

_Have a nice day! Best wishes for you, always!_

_Yours sincerely,_

_Louis._

Louis put the note in the middle of the journal’s pages, so that if Harry opened the gift in front of Lottie, she wouldn’t see his note was there. He only hoped Harry would flick through the pages soon enough to find it and not months or even years later.

He finished wrapping the journal with the pens and let it rest on the side of his desk, waiting until Ruth arrived on the weekend to take it to Lottie back at Hogwarts.

Louis didn’t dare to tell his mother what the package was for when he put it on the kitchen table with his own letter for Lottie on Saturday. Jay looked at him, intrigued, to which Louis only answered “ _Lottie’s stuff, don’t ask_ ” because he knew that if he said it was anything for Harry, his mother would make an unnecessary fuss about it.

Ruth didn’t seem bothered to carry an extra weight with her this time around. She just flew away like she had done so many times before and if Louis was dying inside to know if the owl would make it back safely to Hogwarts and deliver Harry’s gift, he didn’t let it show.

*

Louis was lying on his bed late Monday night, reading a play for his class the next day, when he heard a thud on his window. He thought he had imagined something or maybe it was the wind hitting his window heavily, not bothering to check what it was, but when less than 30 seconds he heard it again, he put his book aside on the bed and got up to get closer to the window.

The noise didn’t stop and Louis, a little bit surprised, soon found out why, seeing the greyish bird standing on his windowsill.

“Marcel?” He asked as he opened the window and the bird landed on his desk perfectly, dropping an envelope on top of it.

Louis’ heart was pounding heavily while he closed the windows and started to scratch the top of Marcel’s head. The bird only made a small coo in response, drawing closer to the touch.

“Is this for me?” Louis asked, sitting down on his chair and taking the envelope in his hand. Marcel only tilted his head and hooted a little louder. “Shh, don’t be so loud, I don’t want mum to find out you’re here!”

Marcel only chirped, as if agreeing with Louis, who only smiled and scratched below Marcel’s beak.

He then turned the envelope in his hand to see Harry’s handwriting on it, with a “ _To Louis_ ” written there. He opened it, noticing his hands starting to tremble. He shouldn’t be so nervous about receiving another letter from Harry. This time, he didn’t have a clue why the boy had sent it, probably he had found Louis’ note in his journal after opening it, but still. Louis pushed his glasses back in place nervously and opened the envelope to check what Harry had to say to him.

Louis unfolded the paper and started to read the letter.

_Dear Louis,_

_Thank you for your birthday note and actually, for the gift. I can’t say I’m surprised to find out it was you who had bought this lovely journal. I knew it hadn’t been Lottie because she had only found out my birthday was today just last week, so I had an inkling when she gave me the gift that someone had bought it for her. I was glad it was you._

_It’s a very thoughtful gift, along with the pens! We do use diaries and journals, but you know, they are all magical. Using something non-magical for once will be exciting! I’m looking forward to doing some writing in it. I asked Lottie and apparently muggles journals aren’t made with endless pages like wizard ones (obviously). I guess it gives more meaning to what I choose to write in it._

_And I can’t believe I have my own pens now, they actually seem a little bit magical because you can change their colours so fast! Very interesting!_

_Thank you for being such a good brother and doing this for your sister, she was very happy to see me with the gifts. And I’m very happy with them too!_

_I had a very good day, thank you for your wishes!_

_I hope everything is well with you too!_

_Sorry for sending Marcel this late! I hope you don’t mind him staying overnight? You won’t actually believe that, being an owl, he doesn’t like to do overnight flying. He’s something else!_

_Once again, thank you for the gifts and for the wishes._

_Hope we can keep in touch soon._

_Yours sincerely,_

_H._

Louis was genuinely smiling when he finished reading it and he couldn’t help but read it one more time to let Harry’s words sink in.

That boy wasn’t real, Louis was getting more certain about it with everything Harry would do and say.

Again, it wasn’t a big deal, the letter. It was a simple thank you letter for Louis, but still, Harry had taken the time, on his birthday, to think about writing a letter to Louis and actually made his owl fly all the way to Louis’ house to deliver it.

He didn’t have to. But he did it anyway, because that was who Harry was and Louis didn’t know what to make of it. He still felt his heart beating a little faster when he held the letter close to his chest.

“Well, isn’t your owner something else, Marcel?” Louis laughed to himself, patting Marcel’s head. “Guess you’ll have to spend the night here, pal. Feeling hungry?”

Marcel only chirped once again and scratched under his wing; Louis took it as a yes and got up from the chair, leaving the letter on the desk.

“Right, you stay up here without making any noise, ok? I’ll get some blueberries for you…”

Louis went downstairs trying to make as little noise as possible, trying not to wake up his sisters next door or his dad - who was sleeping on the living room couch again. He got some blueberries from the fridge, also a package of crackers and a pot to fill with water. He walked back to his room happy that nobody had noticed his whereabouts and fed Marcel with what he had brought.

He went to bed after spending almost 30 minutes patting and pampering the owl, who fell asleep standing up on his desk. Louis laughed and smiled to himself, thinking how weird that was, how unusual everything was at the moment and how 6 months ago he would never thought he’d be in a situation like that.

He made a mental note to remind himself to wake up earlier the next day to write a “you’re welcome” note to Harry and send Marcel back without his family noticing the bird was ever there, before falling asleep too.

 

_**June, 2010** _

 

Lottie’s last letter before coming back home arrived in the middle of June and Louis couldn’t believe that in a week his sister would be back home for almost 3 months; he couldn’t believe she had spent almost a year away in a school learning how to be a witch.

He wanted her back so much.

_Dear Louis,_

_How are you?_

_I’m so happy, big bro! I have finally finished my exams, and I actually got good grades in all of them! I was so scared I would fail something, I can’t believe I did it! I can’t believe I learned how to do magic, how to make potions, how to fly, how to take care of magical plants, aaaah, I’ve learned so many things, Lou!_

_I’ve studied so much and so hard, sometimes it seemed impossible to keep up with all the homework and to understand how to do everything, but I did it! It was very tiring, but it was all worth it!_

_This year has been crazy, but I’m so glad for everything that happened, for everyone I’ve met here. I love Hogwarts, Lou! It’s the best place in the world (besides home, of course) and I love everyone here! It will be sad to leave them all for holiday, but just to think that I’ll be back in a few months makes me happy again. I’ll miss everyone so much, especially Harry. He has been the best! If it wasn’t for him, I’m sure I would have flunked many classes. He is really strict about studying and all, that’s why I bet with Niall he excelled in all his OWLs (Niall thinks he’s gonna get a T for Divination because according to him “Harry can’t hear Destiny’s call”, whatever he means with it). Harry is stressed out a bit because he says these grades will help him for his NEWTs and he wants to become a teacher in the future. And I can actually see him becoming a teacher, he taught me so well some of the things I was having a hard time. Really, I owe Harry so much. I’m very happy we became friends! I hope nothing changes when we come back for the next school year!_

_Now we can relax a bit before heading back home and I’m so excited! Can’t wait to meet you and everyone to tell you more things! Can’t believe I’ll get to spend 3 months with you guys again! We’ll have the best summer!_

_I’ll try to remember to bring home some sweets, we definitely have to try more of the Every Flavour Beans together and see Fizzy’s’ face when she eats a disgusting one!_

_I guess that’s it for now, Lou!_

_Can’t wait to see you again in one week! You will wish I hadn’t come back home because I’m never gonna leave you alone until I leave again! Even if you move away for Uni! :D_

_Love you!_

_See you in a week!_

_Lottie xx_

Louis read the letter thinking about how so much had changed that year, how much had changed in his life and in their family. If you had asked Louis last summer how he had thought his life would be a year from then, he probably would have just said that he had hoped to finish sixth form with great A levels grades so he could be accepted in a good university to finally pursue his drama acting career and move away from home to maybe try his luck in Manchester or even London.

He would never have thought that their family would find out Lottie was a witch, completely changing everything they had known until now.

Throughout the year, Louis had learned so many impossible things through the letters Lottie had sent him. Everything she said, as much as Louis had accepted magic was real, still sounded so unrealistic, farfetched, and straight out from a make-believe story. He believed in everything, though; he would be very hypocritical not to after seeing with his own eyes everything his sister had shown him when she got home during Christmas break, after having gone through a wall, three times now, in the middle of a very busy train station in London and reappearing in a completely different world.

Platform 9 ¾ was starting to become familiar to Louis. The rush of wizarding and also muggle families getting there to pick up their children, the sound of the train’s engine and the smell of the smoke coming from it… everything was starting to become familiar to Louis, even though that wasn’t his world.

This time, he was back with only his mom at the station and they were waiting for the students to finally start getting off the train so they could see Lottie.

The unsettling feeling in Louis’ stomach was there again. He was really excited to see his sister again, but he would be lying if he didn’t admit that he was expecting to have another encounter with Harry.

Since Harry’s letter in February, they hadn’t exchange anything else, but every time Lottie talked about Harry in her letters, Louis could almost feel like he was there, beside her, experiencing everything with Harry too. It wasn’t something normal, Louis knew it. He didn’t even expect to be as good friends with him as Lottie was. And Louis knew they were friends because they were wizards, they had things in common. He and Harry, aside from Lottie, had nothing in common. Louis was a simple and ordinary 18-year-old non-magical teenager, almost an adult, and Harry was a 16-year-old wizard. Their path, mostly likely, would never had crossed if not for Lottie’s miracle magical powers.

Louis could only hope he could consider Harry a nice acquaintance, that maybe one day he and Lottie could go back and remember the cute curly green-eyed boy who Louis basically forced to befriend his little sister.

And talking about the cute curly green-eyed boy, Louis was brought back to earth from his reverie when he spotted Harry getting out from the train, sporting his usual robe, with that shiny badge of his. Louis only now noticed how his tie, a green and silver one, tucked inside his jumper, suited him very well.

Harry was leading a group of students, helping them get their belongings from the train. He was able to see Lottie behind him, getting her trunk in one hand while holding Ruth’s cage in the other. As soon as she saw Louis and their mother, she quickly called Harry and gave him a half-hug, or what she could’ve given him, quickly saying her goodbyes.

When Harry let her go, he looked up, trying to see above many people’s head and for a second Louis thought their eyes had met at the exactly same moment. Harry only waved and smiled at them. His dimple deeper than Louis had ever seen and his eyes shining, matching the green of his tie. Louis tried to catch his breath and waved back. Harry only nodded, smiling, and went back to helping another student, who was calling his attention.

Louis kept watching him as Lottie got closer to them, hugging first his mother and then Louis very tightly.

“Ready to go home, sis?” He asked, putting Lottie’s trunk on the trolley.

“Yes, can’t wait to see everybody again!” She answered, excitedly, putting Ruth’s cage on top of the trunk.

Jay only took Lottie by the hand and led them back to the pillar they had come through. Louis looked back again one last time to where he had last seen Harry. He wasn’t there anymore and Louis felt a little sting in his stomach. He breathed heavily.

Hopefully, next September, they would be able to meet again.


	3. Second Year (2010 - 2011)

**_August, 2010_ **

 

_Dear Lottie,_

_Happy Birthday!_

_Now you are a 12 year old witch, how do you feel?_

_I wish you all the best and that all your dreams come true. I think last year has already been one coming true to you, right? Your life will be filled with more magic from now on! Lots of adventures to come! Your first year at Hogwarts was only the start and I’m happy I got to spend it with you._

_I’m sending you a photo album I made, full of the pictures we’ve taken during the last year. I hope you enjoy them!_

_How has your summer been so far? I hope you’re having fun with your family after missing them so much. Can’t wait to hear all about it, what you’ve been up to with your little sisters and Louis! How is everyone, by the way? Send them my beloved regards!_

_My summer has been awesome! Me, mum and Gems went to France and Spain on holiday. Gems loved to visit Beauxbaton’s Academy! We also went ingredient shopping for her beauty potions. She said Paris was the best place for that, and it was indeed! I think I may also have found a way to perfect our glitter inks with what we found there. When we’re back at Hogwarts, we can test them together!_

_Talking about Hogwarts, I received my OWLs results! And you should be very proud of your friend here, because I got all Os, just as you said I would. Thanks for supporting me! I guess you and Niall have some betting results to sort out now, ha!_

_I’m very excited to start the school year again. I bet you are too!_

_Again, I hope everything is well with you and your family!_

_Looking forward to seeing you again in September!_

_Happy 12th birthday!_

_Miss you Lotties!_

_H. xx_

Harry watched as Marcel flew away through his window, carrying Lottie’s letter. He had hoped to have written to the girl earlier on during summer, but with all the traveling with his family, he only had the time to do it just a month before going back to Hogwarts. He was glad he managed to, because Lottie’s birthday was just in the next couple of days and he was able to send her a gift.

Lottie had become a very special friend to Harry. When they met last year he didn’t think they would make such a special bond, but an unexpected promise later, here they were, owl-buddies, great friends. And her brother, Louis, was also _something_. Harry didn’t know what it was that intrigued him about Louis so much. They had barely had any interaction, because Louis was a muggle and they lived in different realities, but all the (two – three, if he counted last June’s quick glance) times Harry had met him or talked to him through letters (that took him some courage, he had to admit), it didn’t feel like Louis was so different from him. For some reason, Harry knew Louis was special. Or at least, Harry hoped Louis could be special.

In other words, Louis made an impact on Harry and he still couldn’t understand all of it.

He was still sitting by his desk, parchment papers scattered around it, as he flicked through his journal – the journal Lottie had given him, the journal _Louis_ had bought him.

He took out the two papers he had put inside it. One with Louis’ first letter to him, Louis’ reply to Harry saying he would never break their promise. The other, with Louis’ birthday note, the one he sent with the journal. Harry had laughed when he found the note inside it, as if Louis had meant to hide it, so no one other than Harry would be able to find it. And the note was nothing really, but still, Harry thought it was the sweetest thing he had ever received.

(Shut up, Gems, he was 16, he couldn’t blame himself for dreaming about secret letters between him and a cute older boy.)

Honestly? Harry knew he should back down a little, he should stop thinking about Louis that much. Louis wasn’t a wizard like he was, he knew there was probably next to zero chances of them getting together and the boy probably didn’t even think about Harry in that way. He didn’t even know if Louis liked boys the way he did. It was a stupid crush, a stupid crush on a muggle boy, on his friend’s older brother; but Harry couldn’t stop it. He couldn’t stop thinking about that boy with blue eyes – too clever even though Harry had only seen them through the boy’s glasses (which already made him look cute. Harry only imagined the day he would get to see Louis without them), sharp cheekbones, thin lips and a soft light brown hair swept over his forehead, too witty, charming and funny... Yeah, Harry was probably gone already.

He went back to the first page of his journal, looking back at the first thing he had written in there; on the same day he got it, right after sending Marcel to deliver his letter to Louis.

_I think I could fall for you._

*

Marcel came back the next day. Whenever he returned from the Tomlinsons, the owl always seemed happy. Harry knew the Tomlinsons always took good care of his owl, especially Louis who seemed to have bonded with the bird. (And that was such a good sign, Harry couldn’t stop thinking). But that day, Marcel was weirdly quiet.

Harry pampered Marcel as he let the bird sit on his bed, beside him. He got the envelope Marcel was carrying and opened it, a little surprised to only see a small note.

_Dear Harry,_

_Thank you for your birthday wishes!_

_Really loved the photo album, thanks for that! I showed everyone the photos and they all loved them as well! It’s good to remember the good times we had at Hogwarts together! I miss it so much. Miss you a lot too!_

_Glad you had a good time with your family this summer. I wish I could have travelled too, at least it would help me forget what’s going on here at home. Summer hasn’t be as happy as I thought it would be :(_

_Congrats on the OWLs, I knew you’d do great! I’m gonna tease Niall so much for doubting you!_

_Can’t wait to see you again!_

_Lottie xx_

Harry frowned. That wasn’t the kind of letter he was expecting to receive from Lottie. He knew the girl was always excited to tell everything she did at home with her family, with her siblings, with Louis. And now, to see that Lottie was not happy at the place she loved the most with the people she loved the most… Harry was concerned. He wanted to write back to her and ask what was wrong, if there was anything he could do to help. But he refrained himself from doing so because if Lottie wanted, she would’ve told him in the letter. She was clearly upset, something was not right.

It hurt Harry a little not to know what was going on, if it was something with any of her sisters, or even Louis (Harry quickly tried to stop thinking about it because he wouldn’t be able to deal with the thought of Louis being as sad as Lottie seemed to be).

He turned to Marcel, patting him while he cooed, a little sad. He didn’t want to feel sad either, but he cared so much about Lottie, about her family, about Louis... He didn’t want to think about anything bad happening to them.

The only thing Harry could do was wait for the rest of the month, until it was September again. He could only wait and hope Lottie was feeling better before returning to Hogwarts.

 

_**September, 2010** _

 

Since last year, arriving at Platform 9 ¾  wasn’t just about finding Niall and hanging out with him in a compartment they would find for themselves until it was time to depart to Hogwarts.

Now Harry had to patrol the Express and also help the new students. The last part wasn’t really a responsibility, but he found that he could be really useful doing that, since that was how he and Lottie had become friends.

It was already almost 11 am when Harry saw the Tomlinson family enter the platform. He spotted Lottie, pushing the trolley in front of her, followed by her mother beside her, and behind he could see Louis and the three other girls, all of them holding hands. Harry thought he would breathe a little more relieved to see the entire (well, almost entire, because their father wasn’t with them) family there, but the concern he had had for the past month only grew when he saw the expression on their faces, all very wan.

Harry wanted to approach them and go talk to them, but he felt like he would be invading the family’s moment as they started to give Lottie their goodbyes.

It looked like Jay hadn’t stopped crying. Lottie hugged her mother goodbye, a bit too long. Jay kept whispering in her hair before she finally let go of her, holding her daughter’s face tenderly and kissing her forehead.

Lottie then went to her siblings, and all four of them surrounded her, giving her a big bear hug. Lottie was holding Louis by his middle and the boy kept kissing the top of her head. When the little girls let go of Lottie, Louis crouched to meet her level, speaking to her while holding her shoulders. She kept nodding and Harry saw the girl start to cry. Louis then kissed her forehead and gave her a quick hug.

When he got up, he looked ahead and Harry’s eyes met his. Harry froze for a moment, but quickly managed to raise his hand to wave and shyly smile at Louis.

Louis only nodded, giving him a faded smile. He then called Lottie again and pointed in Harry’s direction. The family all turned to look at Harry, who felt a little too aware of their attention on him. He waved at them again, starting to walk towards them. He noticed Louis understood what he was going to do, and the other boy only shook his head, giving him a very doleful smile while fixing his glasses on his nose. Harry stopped where he was as he saw Jay smiling at him, as sweetly as she could.

Lottie gave her mother another quick hug and turned to her sisters and brother, waving them goodbye. She started to walk away from them, heading in Harry’s direction, pushing her trolley with her trunk and Ruth’s cage in it. He still could see her sad expression, but she was trying to keep a smile on her face.

Harry saw the rest of her family walk back to where they had come through the wall – Jay getting the twins by their hands and leading them back to muggle King’s Cross. Louis was the last to cross the wall, guiding Fizzy in front of him. Harry gulped as he saw Louis look back one last time to where he was and it hurt to think that, that sad and tired Louis would be the last memory Harry would have of him until they saw each other again and there was nothing he could do to help him.

“Hi Harry,” Lottie’s voice caught his attention and Harry smiled down at her.

“Hey Lots,” he said, taking a few steps to meet her behind her trolley. “So happy to see you again, I… Are you ok?”  He didn’t know what to say, but all he wanted was to hug her and make her feel better.

“Me too. Eh, not so much, but at least I’m going to Hogwarts now. I hope things will be better,” she shrugged, looking downward.

Harry chewed on the inside of his cheeks, not knowing what to do. Whatever he had imagined it had happened with her and her family, he didn't think it had been that bad, but Lottie's expression showed otherwise.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” He asked and she only shrugged again. “Wanna go look for Danny? She must be already in a compartment, I think I saw her…”

“No, not now, I'm good,” she interrupted, barely meeting his eyes.

Harry didn’t want to pressure her into talking but he was really starting to get more worried.

“Shall we take your things inside the train?” He asked in lieu of asking her again how she was feeling. “Let’s go, it’s almost time. Then if you want, I can stay with you for a while and we can talk, alright?”

And as he said it, they heard the Express’ whistle and all the remaining students on the platform started to rush to get inside the train, waving their goodbyes to their families.

Harry took her trunk from the trolley and she got Ruth’s cage, following him inside the train. They had barely stepped inside when Harry spotted Niall walking down the aisle, ready to enter a compartment.

“Nialler!” He exclaimed, making the blond look at him.

“Harold, Lottie! Good to see you again!” Niall walked to them, smiling.

“Hey, Niall,” Lottie greeted him, still sounding too sad. Niall only furred his brows, looking at Harry, questioning him.

“Hm, do you have a cabin for you already? I was thinking Lottie could stay with you, if she wants?” Harry looked down at her and the girl only nodded.

“Yeah, I’m staying with James and Tristan, but… if you want, I can kick them out and they can stay with the other boys, c’mon!” Niall gestured for them to follow him. He opened the door of the compartment he was about to enter before Harry called him and he dutifully and not so politely asked the boys who were already inside to give him, Harry and Lottie some space.

When the cabin was free again, Harry helped Lottie put her trunk on the top of the compartment and he and Niall sat down in front of her, Ruth’s cage on her lap. She was so quiet and distant – mostly looking down at Ruth, patting the owl who only cooed very softly, or looking outside the window when the train started to move – Harry was starting to think the girl didn’t want to be there with them.

“So, how was your summer, boys?” She suddenly asked, turning her head to face them.

Niall took that as his cue to start babbling.

“Wow, it was fine! Mum and dad took me to watch Greg training with Ireland’s Quidditch team! It was wicked! Greg wanted me to play with them a little but dad thought it would be better if I didn’t because of my knee, though. He said he wouldn’t be up for fixing it again it if I knackered it one more time. That part sucked, but aside from that it was great! Greg’s sad I can’t play anymore because he says that I’d be a great Quidditch player, as if everybody didn’t know it already,” Niall looked at Harry, wiggling his eyebrows at him. Harry only rolled his eyes, chuckling.

“Anyway, that was the highlight of it. Harry here told you already he went beauty shopping with Gemma, right? How posh of them to go to Paris…” Niall nudged Harry with his elbow and Harry only flicked the boy’s ear, telling him to shut up. Niall laughed and hit Harry’s hand away from him, which made the girl giggle a little. “Oh, happy belated birthday, by the way, Lottie. I know I sent you a card and all, but I had to say it in person. And you, how was your summer?”

Niall asked nonchalantly, to keep the conversation going, but Harry noticed Lottie getting a little tense. He was tense too, not knowing if the girl would dismiss the question and not open up to them.

“It was…” she sighed deeply, “not what I expected.”

Niall and Harry exchanged a concerned look and Lottie only closed her eyes, turning to the direction of the window again. “Mum and dad, they have been fighting a lot, I think they are going to split up,” she finally said.

Harry felt like a thousand rocks had been dropped to his stomach. Now he understood why the girl was so sad, of course.

“Oh, Lottie, I’m sorry,” Harry voiced, as he got up to sit on the seat beside her.

“Ow, that sucks!” Niall added and Harry gave him a stern look.

Lottie turned back to them. Her eyes were watery and Harry didn’t want her to start crying again, as it seemed this was something she had done all summer already.

He took her hand away from Ruth’s cage, placed the bird where he was sat before, and held Lottie’s hand, making her look up at him, smiling slightly, before speaking again.

“I mean, they had been fighting a lot for a couple of years already. Dad has been sleeping on the couch now and he even left to stay with grandpa’s sometimes, but, I don’t want it to happen, nobody wants it.”

“Oh, Lottie, that’s not something we can control, you know?” Harry said, “my parents, they separated when I was young and there was nothing I could do, as much as I wanted them together.”

“Yeah, but you are all wizards,” she sighed. Harry furrowed his brows at her. “I feel like me becoming a witch and going away... it’s making things a lot more difficult for mum and dad, and I feel bad for leaving, I’m just afraid they kept trying this summer because I was there...”

“Hey!” Niall cut her off, “don’t say that, ok? I’m sure that’s not what happened. You said they were already having troubles before, so you being a witch is not why they are fighting more.”

“I know that,” she sniffed, “Louis told me that too. He said that it’s more complicated. I just feel like- I wish things were different. Not that I wish I wasn’t a witch. I love being a witch and I wouldn’t change anything. I just wish things were easier.”

“Don’t blame yourself for things that aren’t your fault, Lottie,” Harry said as he turned to face her better, still holding her hand. “Your parents know what they do and if they decide to split up… I know it sucks, but, life goes on. It’s hard, yeah, but you don’t need to beat yourself down for that. Your family loves you and they will always do. And you have your friends too, me and Niall, Danny… we will always be here for you to help with whatever you need.”

“Yeah, I’m not as good with words as Styles here, but I can try to help you, making you laugh,” Niall jumped from his seat to the other beside Lottie, throwing his arm around her and ruffling her hair.

“Thanks, boys,” she laughed, now a little more humoured. “It’s been bad, yeah, but we are trying to make it better. Louis would do anything for us not to stay sad at home… oh, and there’s Louis moving away too,” she sighed sadly again.

“He’s moving away?” Harry questioned so fast he didn’t even have time to think if it was appropriate to be that eager to know about Lottie’s brother. He saw Niall smirk at him from the other side. He only murmured him to shut up, hoping Lottie hadn’t noticed their exchange.

“Yeah, he’s moving to London to go to university,” Lottie replied straightening her skirt. “He didn’t want to go though. He said that he doesn’t want to leave mum and the girls if anything happens, but I heard them talking and she doesn’t want him to hold himself back for us, so now he’s going to study in London. When he was not out with us, taking us to the parks and fields near home so we wouldn’t mope inside the house, he was going to London to look for places to stay. He already found a roommate! It’s sad to see him leaving, it’s not going to be the same without him at home all the time, though...”

“That’s good for him, Lottie,” Harry said, trying to be nonchalant and failing completely, if Niall’s repressed snicker was anything to go by. He knew he shouldn’t, but he really wanted Lottie to keep talking about what Louis had been up to during summer, what he was going to study in London, who was that roommate of his… He tried to stay on his lane. “I mean, it’s a bummer that all these things are happening at the same time, but see, none of this is your fault. It’s something your mum and dad have to work out. I understand you being sad and not wanting to leave them in this difficult time, also with your brother leaving, but, things will get better eventually.”

“And you know what can help you get over sad things?” Niall blurted, getting up and going to the door of their compartment. Lottie and Harry only looked at him, curiously. “Chocolate! Where’s the trolley lady when we need her?” Niall stuck his head outside the corridor, looking around to find the old witch.

When she came, both boys bought as many sweets as they could for Lottie. They ate some together, while trying to distract her from the previous conversation.

Harry had to leave eventually when Freya Mavor, Slytherin’s other prefect, warned him it was his turn to patrol the train and that they needed to attend the Prefects meeting. He left Lottie with Niall reluctantly. If he could, he would spend their ride to Hogwarts with her, trying to take her mind off her problems, trying to remind her that her year at Hogwarts had barely started and that she would be able to have fun with her friends again. But he didn’t have to worry too much, because he knew that with Niall, she was in good hands too.

Still, Harry lingered at the compartment’s door, watching them both play Exploding Snap, before following Freya’s call.

*

The first days back at Hogwarts were very busy, with Harry juggling his new school schedule (after thoroughly discussing it with Professor Slughorn) and his Prefects duties (who would’ve thought there would be so many First Years). He was able to continue all his classes, but keeping up with them was going to be a challenge. He was excited, though, mostly to take his Ancient Runes, Ancient Magic and also the Alchemy (which, for his luck, was available that year) classes.

The rest of the week passed quickly and on the weekend, he finally had time to sleep in. Everything was going smooth so far.

Sunday was a relaxing day, with the students slowly getting used to the school routine. During breakfast, everyone was very expectant for the morning owl mail to arrive. Harry had received Gemma’s letter telling him that she would look for more ingredients to help him with the glitter inks. His sister had been as enthusiastic as him when he told her what he was planning, but she was also a little bit disappointed with herself because how couldn’t she have thought about that before?

Harry was about to turn to Lottie, who was sitting opposite of him with Danny and Courtney, to tell her about Gemma’s message, when he noticed the girl’s sad expression. Lottie had been better since arriving at Hogwarts last Wednesday. But now, he saw her with those sad eyes again, while she observed everyone receive their mail. Harry then realized Ruth wasn’t on the table with her and that made him begin to worry too.

“Lottie, you alright?” He asked, calling her attention.

“I’m– I don’t know. Ruth has never missed Sunday mail. Mum would always send her on Saturday and… she hasn’t come back today,” Lottie replied, still looking up, in the direction of where all the other owls had arrived.

Harry had found that weird too, since Lottie and her family would write to each other weekly. If he remembered correctly, they had never missed each other’s letters; Ruth was dutifully every Sunday bringing Lottie her mom’s and also Louis’ mail.

“I’m sure it’s nothing serious. Maybe she got caught up in some bad weather, something like that,” Harry tried to reassure her, but by looking at the enchanted sunny sky on the ceiling, it was very difficult to believe that.

“Could be,” Lottie murmured, going back to eating her pie, absent-mindedly.

Harry probably knew what was going on inside the girl’s head, but he wasn’t going to push her to voice her thoughts or even tell her what he was thinking. He just hoped he would be wrong.

They finished breakfast and all the students headed to their respective Sunday activities. As Lottie passed beside him, wishing him a good day, arms linked with Danny and Courtney, he only replied telling her if she needed anything, they could meet at Slytherin Common Room after lunch. She nodded and kept walking with her friends, the girls talking about something that made Lottie laugh slightly. It hurt Harry to see that the girl was getting worried again, but there was really nothing he could do other than be there for her as a friend.

*

Monday morning during breakfast, Harry finally saw Ruth arriving inside the Great Hall among only a few other owls.

Harry hoped to see Lottie get a little more excited about her owl’s arrival, but when the bird dropped only one envelope in front of her, Harry noticed how hesitant she was to catch it. He stopped eating, watching her open the envelope cautiously, taking two pieces of paper from it. Everyone around them seemed to continue eating their breakfast unbothered. Even Danny, Courtney and Skye, who were chatting with her before, resumed to their food after Lottie told them she was ok and just wanted to read her letter quietly. At that, Harry decided it was better to leave her too, not commenting on the fact that Ruth had finally arrived. But it was hard to keep quiet when he could see Lottie’s eyes become redder and more watery as she started reading the letters.

He wanted to reach out to her, ask her what was wrong, but he didn’t know how or if he should interrupt her. Lottie started to sob and the girls beside her finally decided to approach her, making her blurt a “ _I’M FINE_ ” so loud and with so much rage a glass in front of her shattered. Everybody around her went quiet. Harry’s heart broke and when he saw her run away from their table, he stood up and followed her.

“Tomlinson! Get back here, it’s almost time for class!” Harry heard Freya call behind them and he only turned to her, shouting a “I’ll deal with her, clean the mess on the table!” before following the girl down the school’s corridors back to the dungeons.

Lottie had been faster than Harry, but he managed to catch their door still open when he finally reached the almost empty Common Room.

“Lottie?” He called breathlessly, as the stone door closed behind him. He could hear a muffled crying sound but he didn’t see her anywhere. He cornered the big black leather couch near the fireplace, and finally found her, crouched against the backrest, her arms hugging her legs.

“Lottie, are you…?” He asked, crouching beside her.

She only shook her head as he heard a loud sob coming from her. He sat beside her and tentatively put his arm around her, not knowing if she would accept it. He just wanted to make her feel better and the only thing he could think of right now was to hug her.

She gave in to his gesture and rested her head against his chest, still crying. Harry caressed her arms for a few minutes, rocking her softly until he noticed she was calming down from crying. The few students lingering in the Common Room averted their eyes, giving them both some privacy.

“I understand if you don’t want to talk about it,” Harry broke the silence and he felt Lottie drying her tears with her hands, “but I’m here to listen to you, ok? I know there’s not much I can do, but I can listen to you if you want-”

“Dad left,” she simply said, not looking up at him.

Harry felt all the air leave his lungs. He was truly hoping this was not what the letter was about, why Ruth had not returned the previous day.

“Oh, Lottie, I’m sorry,” he only hugged her tightly.

“Mum said he left on Saturday. I knew they were only waiting for me to leave!” She was speaking loudly now. “I shouldn’t have left!”

“Hey!” Harry let go of their embrace to make her look at him. “Don’t say that. Even if you were at home, I don’t think that was something that would avoid what happened. There was nothing you could’ve done. It’s not your fault either, don’t ever think that.”

“It’s just,” she inhaled deeply and Harry could see she was starting to cry again. He let her. “I don’t know what to feel, Harry. We knew it would happen, but, I don’t want my parents to hate each other and I want to be there for the girls, for Louis. He barely said anything in his letter, but I know he’s sad too! And he’s going to London next week, I don’t want him to leave them now. I don’t know how they are. I’m so…” She was sobbing again and Harry hugged her one more time.

“Listen, I understand how you feel, I told you my parents separated when I was younger, right?” Harry felt Lottie nodding against his chest. “It was one of the worst things that happened to me. I was sad and so was Gemma and it happened while she was in Hogwarts too. She even went home when it happened. Do you want to talk to Professor Slughorn and Professor McGonagall to see if you could…”

“I don’t feel like going home right now, to be honest,” she cut him off. Harry was a little startled by the girl’s quick response.

“I understand,” Harry sighed deeply, “I know it sucks, and I think I know how you feel, but, I’m sure your mum will do anything that is possible so your sisters don’t feel sad and Louis probably is sad too, that’s why he didn’t say much.”

“It is what it is…” Lottie said almost in a whisper.

“What?”

“That’s what he said. He wrote it to try to calm me down, I guess.”

Harry still didn’t know what to say back to her after that. It was a delicate situation. “Hey, he wants you to be alright. He doesn’t want you to worry so much. He’s also dealing with it, so give him time. Write to your mum and him telling them how you feel, maybe even write to your dad? Things may not be the best now, but you will feel better, it gets better, I promise. And your family will be there for you, you are so united.” Harry spoke without pausing. Lottie was now looking at him, her big blue eyes full of tears.

“Thank you, Harry. I just, I don’t want to feel sad anymore. The whole summer and now this,” Lottie said, sobbing once again and it hurt Harry to see her this sad. It hurt him that there wasn’t much he could do to help. If only there was a spell that could take away her sadness and bring back that joyful and lively Lottie back; if only he could distract her from all these problems.

Well, there wasn’t one that could do exactly that, but Harry knew one that could help her feel safer.

“You know, I learned a spell once in DADA. It's for dementors but, life can be a bit of a dementor sometimes too, you know, sucking all of our happiness…? I mean, we don't see dementors everyday so we don't use it that much, but, it helps because it makes us think about our happiest moments.”

She looked up at him. “Yeah?”

“Yep, and it protects us from all the bad things that can surround us. It’s something that comes from happiness and from within us. Do you want me to show you what it is?”

Lottie nodded, curiously and Harry stood in front of her, fetching his wand from inside his robe. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“This is not an easy spell to do, most wizards can’t conjure one even after they leave Hogwarts, but I’ve been practicing a lot, because, you know, there’s only a few things that aren’t a challenge for me. So me and Niall we decided to see who would be able to conjure one first. I did it, obviously,” Harry could listen to Lottie giggle softly at his showy antics and he smiled at that, still with his eyes closed, trying to concentrate. “Anyway, just… take a look at it, ok?” Harry didn’t know if Lottie had nodded or not, but now he was focusing on remembering that single memory that had always prompted him to conjure his Patronus.

“ _Expecto Patronum!_ ” Harry voiced, powerfully and felt the magic whoosh out from his wand. He opened his eyes and started to see his corporal Patronus form in front of him, leaving his wand and walking around the room.

Harry turned to where Lottie was before, and saw she was standing up now, with her eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

“What’s… what’s that?” She managed to speak, following the Patronus with her eyes, who was jumping around her.

“This is a Patronus,” Harry said, taking a step closer to Lottie.

“Is this... Is this a... _deer_?” Lottie was trying to catch it with her hand, but it went right through the bright and silvery form.

“Yeah, kinda of, it’s actually a fawn,” Harry replied softly, a little self-conscious.

“It’s a baby deer! Oh my, it’s so cute! How did– how do I make one?” Harry almost forgot Lottie was crying her eyes out just minutes ago, were it not for her blotchy face. The excitement in her voice was the one Harry was hoping to hear since meeting her back at King’s Cross and now it was finally there.

“You just, you have to think about your happiest moment, the most powerful memory you have,” Harry waved his hand around, making his fawn round Lottie one more time. The girl was ecstatic.

“And what did you think about?” She asked, now looking at him, trying to pet the fawn one more time.

“I always think about…” Harry was a little hesitant to continue, afraid that whatever he would say would make Lottie sad again, “about the last Christmas dad and mum were together with us at home.” He looked downward, waving his wand one last time, as the fawn started to fade away, and pocket it back inside his robe.

Lottie was quiet for a moment, taking a few steps back to rest herself against the back of the couch.

“I don’t think I can make one. My family is not making me that happy right now," she looked down at her shoes, fidgeting with her robe.

Harry took some steps ahead, standing beside her on the back of the couch. “Hey, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have happy memories with them, I’m sure you do! And it also doesn’t mean you won’t have any more in the future! I’m sure you’ll be able to think about something.”

“Yeah, but even if I remember something you said it’s very difficult. I’m not that good of a witch as you are, I don’t think...” Harry could see her eyes fall again. He hadn’t meant to make her sad. All he wanted was for her to feel some happiness and he would make anything to see her smiling again the way she did when she saw his fawn.

“Hey, stop that, okay? You’re a wonderful witch and if you want, I can teach you,” he blurted out and she looked at him, alarmed.

“Really?”

Harry smiled at her. “Yes, of course. If I was able to do it, and even Niall did it, so can you, Lottie! You’re very smart and you learn things fast! There’s nothing you can’t do! We can work on it, I’m sure it will help you feel better.”

“Thank you Harry,” she shyly got closer to him, holding him by his middle. Harry’s heart fluttered a little, content to see this little girl he adored opening up to him and trusting him to help her get better. “I wish the girls and Louis could be able to conjure a Patronus too. I wish they had a Harry at home to help them like you’re helping me.” She looked up at him, her eyes a little watery, but smiling.

Harry felt his cheeks get warm. Yeah, he definitely wouldn’t mind helping her and her family feel better. He definitely wouldn’t mind helping Louis, who he didn’t want to think about being sad and away from his family during this difficult time. He wouldn’t mind being Louis’ Harry.

 

**November, 2010**

 

October had definitely been better than September. Lottie had still been upset, of course, but she was getting better, Harry could see.

A week after she received her mother’s letter, Louis finally sent a proper letter to Lottie. This time not from their house, but from his place in London already, Lottie had told Harry – he even included a photo of him and his new roommate, Liam, in their new dorm. Harry was always impressed by muggle photography, it was something unique, as if time had stopped, frozen, forever kept in one single moment. Although, Harry didn’t know if Louis sitting beside his roommate, a brown wavy haired guy who looked too happy for his own good, was that great of a moment to capture.

Harry enjoyed more the photos Lottie’s mother had sent her in a letter the following week, telling her how she helped Louis move in and settle in his university. Louis seemed a lot happier than Harry remembered him being from the last time he saw the older boy at King’s Cross – and certainly happier than he had been in the past weeks due to the situation with his family.

Louis was pulling a funny face in [ one picture](https://66.media.tumblr.com/e743611355684972330e6e76d9c84a52/tumblr_n4lmhx5noa1s8wsc3o1_500.jpg) and Harry almost lost his breath to finally see Louis without his glasses on, with his blue eyes standing out, wearing a red jumper. Harry tried to contain himself from laughing and blushing while Lottie showed him and Niall the photos. [ In another](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FDsjMesU3fs/hqdefault.jpg), Louis was wearing a red and white striped t-shirt, with his glasses again and Harry now didn’t know which Louis he preferred. Maybe all of them. Any version of Louis was Harry’s favourite, he had to admit.

Jay’s and Louis’ letters (and even the letters from her father) helped cheer Lottie up a bit. And he was also helping her. As he had promised, he started to teach her how to produce a Patronus spell. Whenever he had a break from his classes and his studies, he would meet her and they would start to practice. She hadn’t been able to fully produce one yet, not even a non-corporeal one; she said she was having difficulties thinking about anything happy enough at the moment because all her happy memories were with her family and she was still sad because of them. But Harry didn’t give up. Every time Lottie seemed too gloomy to continue, he would conjure his fawn to her, to let her play with it a little and that would make her feel a little better. At least she was having a distraction and Harry was good at doing that.

October was definitely filled with better moments. At the Hallowe’en Feast, the whole school was decorated again and the students had the whole Sunday to enjoy the festive day. Lottie wasn’t particularly happy that day, but Harry and Niall had tried everything they could to make Lottie laugh – which she did, but only slightly.

The following week, Harry found himself entering the Slytherin Common Room with Niall, after roaming around the school, to see Lottie laughing so loud it took him a moment to realize it was actually her. He hadn’t heard her laughing like that for so long, it took him by surprise. She wasn’t alone, though. Danny was with her too, laughing, but not as enthusiastically as Lottie.

“Hey, what’s going on?” He approached her and she was crying from laughter when he sat on her other side on the couch. Niall set himself on the foot of the other couch, curious to see what was happening.

“It’s– Oh Merlin! It’s Louis,” she tried to contain her laughter as she spoke. “He sent me this letter, talking about his Halloween party on campus and–” she started bursting in laughter again.

“Her brother is so weird!” Danny said, chuckling.

Harry looked at Niall confused and the blond only arched a brow at him.

“What did he do? Did he dress himself as a wizard again like last year?” Niall asked and threw a cushion at Harry. Harry caught it before it hit his face, looking at Niall furiously. Of course he wouldn’t forget Harry babbling about Louis looking so good as a wizard for almost a week.

“No!” Lottie was finally able to control herself. “He said he made a bet with Liam and had to go to his Halloween party almost naked!” Lottie basically shoved two pictures at Harry’s face and it took him a second to compose himself because, one, Lottie had just mentioned Louis and naked on the same sentence, which made Harry feel a rush he wasn’t sure he could control, and two, the pictures, well, they didn’t help with Harry’s situation.

[ The first photo](http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/11/08/article-1327637-0BF5DBBE000005DC-193_306x764.jpg), Louis was wearing a gown and it really did seem like he was wearing nothing under it. He was also holding his crotch area and Harry felt his cheeks getting warm. Louis was showing a thumbs up as if nothing was happening there. For Harry, something was definitely happening. It was only confirmed when Harry looked at the [ second photo](http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/11/08/article-1327637-0BF5F798000005DC-597_306x764.jpg). He didn’t know if he was happy Louis wasn’t indeed naked, but what he saw, well, it didn’t help him at all. It wasn’t just his cheeks that were getting warm now; his whole body was getting warm and he could feel his stomach starting to swirl and the feeling travelling down on him. He was going to thank Niall later for throwing that cushion at him, as he was able to put it on his lap to hide what was going on down there.

“You ok, Styles?” He heard Niall’s voice, mockingly calling him. And alright, no, he wasn’t going to thank Niall for anything. He was going to jinx him, maybe even curse him. He would gladly go to Azkaban if that made Niall shut up.

“Harry?” Lottie asked and Harry looked from the photos in his hand to her, trying to look composed.

“Yeah, it’s… your brother… he’s an interesting guy… I… what is he dressed up as?” Harry laughed slightly trying to show that he was not as affected by the photos as it seemed. He didn’t want Lottie to know he was affected by her brother.

“I don’t know, it looks like he’s a patient, getting out of the hospital, but he sure isn’t minding his big bum flashing out there for anyone to see!” Lottie laughed again, mindlessly taking the pictures from Harry’s hand (and apparently without noticing Harry’s embarrassment and state) and showing them to Niall.

“Boy, look at these starry pants!” Niall wiggled his brows, laughing, and Harry really wanted to throw the pillow back at Niall, but he wasn’t sure his situation was controlled yet. “It looks like he had a lot of fun!”

“Oh yes, he did! He told me he went to this party and after it they all watched Twilight, because apparently what’s more halloweeny than vampires and werewolves besides witches?”

“Vampires and werewolves?” Niall gave her the photos back. Both Harry – who was still trying to handle his situation – and Niall looked at her with a confusing expression.

“Yeah,” she accepted the photos back and put them inside the envelope again, “when it’s Halloween, people usually dress up as wizards, or werewolves and vampires, because they are scary! We have all kinds of horror stories with them, but Twilight isn’t scary at all. The vampires sparkle!”

“What?” Niall almost shouted, starting to laugh again. “Sparkling vampires?”

At that, Harry bursted in laughter too, feeling a little bit more at ease, because really, what was Lottie talking about?

“Lottie, vampires do not sparkle at all! They are all weird, pale and dark,” Danny said beside her, laughing too, and Lottie looked at her a little bit offended.

“I know! They made them look like they are good. The girl falls in love with him, it’s very cheesy,” Lottie argued. Whatever mental imagine muggles had of vampires only made Harry, and specially Niall, laugh even more.

“If the vampires sparkle, what do you think of the werewolves?” Niall was now cracking up.

“Well, in the movie they basically look like normal wolves and can speak with each other in their minds,” Lottie shrugged, not so happy with Niall’s sarcastic comment.

Harry couldn’t help himself too and he was back at laughing again with Niall.

“Merlin, you guys need to see what real vampires and werewolves look like! Then you’d be really scared of them!” Harry commented, “when you learn about them in your DADA classes next year, you can tell Louis all about them.”

“And maybe he can even dress up as a Vampire for next year too,” Niall interrupted, mocking him once again, throwing him a knowing look and Harry didn’t know what to do as he felt his cheeks get flushed once again. He only stood up and finally threw the cushion at Niall, making the blond boy fall back on the floor laughing.

“Damn, Harry, why are you keeping your wand in your pocket like that?” Niall started laughing even louder, making Lottie and Danny look at him confused.

Harry had never felt more embarrassed in his life. He only managed to close his robe around him and turn around.

“Hmm, excuse me. I’ll be right back.” He rushed to get away from them, ignoring Niall’s loud crackle and Lottie’s dazed question. “Is there something wrong with him?”

*

It was in the middle of November when Harry witnessed something he thought it would take a little bit longer to happen.

It was not that he didn’t believe in Lottie’s potential, but they had been practicing for more than two months now and she had only managed to conjure a non-corporeal Patronus mildly strong twice. He knew she wasn’t feeling so miserable as she had in the beginning of the school year, but still, she was struggling to find something happy to think of.

It was a Saturday and Harry had decided to take her for a walk around the lake before starting to practice with her. Niall was with them too, trying to initiate a debate on whose Patronus would win a fight between his and Harry’s.

“I just think, you know, dogs, even though they can be domestic and docile, they have that sense of loyalty, of protecting and guarding the house when the owner is not there, they would die for their owners,” he stated.

“Only if they are big and strong enough,” Harry rolled his eyes, as he looked down at his camera that was resting on his lap.

“Don’t judge the potential of a Patronus because of its size, _deer_ Harry…”

“For the millionth time, Nialler, it’s a fawn.” Harry ignored him to take a picture of Lottie playing with her wand, trying to conjure some flowers on the already dry and almost dead lawn.

“And that’s why my Patronus would win over yours. Yours is just a baby.”

“Yours is literally a corgi! At least mine can jump and run fast enough. What can yours do? Lick a dementor’s face? With its short chubby legs, it can’t even defend you,” Harry looked up at him, with a smirk.

“Jump! Run fast enough! Yours would only fall on its face like you do all the time! Sod off.” Niall answered exasperated.

Harry rolled his eyes and decided to resume to Lottie’s practice. On their first try, she had managed to hold a non-corporeal Patronus for some minutes and Harry was really impressed.

“That was.. that was perfect Lots! What did you think about?”

“I was just remembering this summer,” she answered, looking away from him.

Harry frowned. “What exactly?”

“It may not seem like the happiest memory I have, because we were all in a very bad time, but,” she sighed deeply and Harry encouraged her to keep talking, nodding, “whenever Louis would take us outside the house, he would do anything to make us happy and once he took us to this park and we were swinging with the twins and he kept pushing them so high they were scared but also so happy at the same time, and then me and him we decided to compete to see who would swing higher and Fizzy was screaming together with the twins, encouraging us. That was one of the happiest days we ever had this summer, because it reminded me of when we were younger and Louis used to do that with us, also taking us to run after butterflies and birds around the glade near our house.”

“That’s a lovely memory, Lottie,” he said, smiling at her. “Do you think your childhood memories are happier than this one you thought about?”

“Maybe. I mean, I was very young and I don’t remember having anything to worry about at that time like I did this summer.”

“Lottie, I think if you combine both, you will be able to conjure a Patronus like mine. Do you think you can do it?”

Harry could see she was apprehensive, but she nodded, already closing her eyes and raising her wand, trembling a little bit.

“There’s no need to be nervous, Lottie. If you can’t do it right now, it’s alright, we’ll keep practicing.” Lottie only nodded again and inhaled deeply. “Whenever you’re ready,” Harry looked at Niall, who only gave him a thumbs up.

He saw Lottie taking a few more deep breaths, calming herself, before finally yelling “ _Expecto Patronum!_ ” at the top of her lungs.

Harry saw a silver form burst out of her wand, but not a shapeless cloud of mist this time. It was an animal shape, a bit small, but an animal nonetheless. The animal was taking a more definite form and it started to fly away from her wand when Harry noticed it was a butterfly.

“Lottie, you did it!” Niall blurted in excitement. At that moment, she opened her eyes to look at what had happened and immediately she started crying and laughing at the same time.

“Niall, gimme my camera, I need to get this before it fades away!” Harry gestured to Niall, who got the device that was left on the lawn near them.

“Lottie, this is amazing! Keep it just a little bit longer, ok?” Harry exclaimed, getting the camera in his hand and snapping a picture while Lottie still had her wand high and her butterfly flying around her.

The loud sound of the camera must have distracted Lottie from her spell because right after, her Patronus started to vanish and she dropped to her knees on the grass. Harry quickly went up to her and crouched down in front of the girl.

“Hey, hey, you alright?” He held her by the shoulder and she only nodded, breathing heavily.

“I did it, Harry!” She said, faintly, looking up at him. “You see? My Patronus is a butterfly!” Her eyes were shining, both from the tears that had gathered before and also from excitement and awe.

“Yeah, I saw it! It was beautiful! Well done, Lottie! I knew you could do it!” Harry hugged her and he felt her relaxing with the embrace. Not long after, he felt another pair of arms envelope both of them and he knew Niall wouldn’t miss the opportunity to join a group hug.

“Now, from the three Patronus, which one would actually win a fight?” Niall asked, jokingly. Harry only responded with a “shut up” while Lottie giggled and shouted “MINE!”.

*

Harry had been debating with himself what to do for the past week.

He was trying to control himself, he really was. He didn’t want to seem like crossing any type of boundaries, but it was just… he was sure Louis would appreciate receiving some kind of reassurance Lottie was feeling better.

Lottie hadn’t mentioned Louis wanting Harry to send him anything to make sure Harry was doing what he had told Louis he would do since last year. They had kinda reached an unspoken agreement with last year’s letter. It wasn’t Harry’s obligation to do so, and Harry knew that from the beginning, but he wanted to do it anyway, especially now, when Lottie most needed someone to take care of her. And he did that, he helped her feel better, he even taught her how to conjure a Patronus, for Merlin’s sake. If that wouldn’t show Louis that Harry was keeping their promise alive, after all those months, Harry didn’t know what would.

And that’s how Harry found himself sat at the round table in the Slytherin Common Room instead of doing his Arithmancy homework.

_Dear Louis_

_How have you been?_

_I hope everything is good with you. Lottie told me you have moved to London to start University? I don’t know exactly what a University is for, but I guess for you this is a very important thing to do, so… Congratulations, I hope all is going well for you._

_You must be wondering why I’m sending you this letter, since we haven’t talked to each other since my birthday (and we actually didn’t talk in September at King’s Cross). And I know we don’t exactly exchange letters unless it’s something that concerns Lottie, but I guess with what’s going on it’s about time I sent something to you. Also, I’m sorry about what happened. I hope you and your family are ok!_

_I know you told me it wasn’t my obligation to take care of her but as I said before, Lottie is like a little sister to me and with her going through so much these past couple of months, I felt like I needed to be there for her and help her in someway. That’s what you would have liked, right?_

_If it’s up to me, I’ll never let our promise down, I can guarantee you that._

_So, I don’t know if Lottie actually told you, but I’ve been teaching her to make a very hard, but special spell, one that would help her remember her happiest memories and also protect her. I thought that this spell would make her feel a little better. She had been pretty down since the beginning of the school year, but she has improved so much since then, and I guess learning how to make this spell has helped a lot too._

_This spell is called “Expecto Patronum” and when we think about our happiest memory, we are able to produce a Patronus, which is like a guardian in the shape of an animal that we connect with the most or that represents our soul._

_Lottie really wanted to be able to conjure one and for the past couple of months I have been practicing with her and this week, she was finally able to do one. It takes most wizards a long time to produce a strong one, even if it’s one that is just shapeless and it’s even more difficult to produce a corporeal one, but Lottie did it! Your sister produced a beautiful corporeal Patronus and I must say, in some way you helped her, because she told me her happy memory was of the times you, her and your little sisters were together, even this summer, playing around the parks near your house._

_You should be proud of her, it’s not everyday that a 12 year-old witch can conjure a corporeal Patronus with so much intensity! I was only able to produce mine last year. Her memories must be really strong, and it only shows how important you are to her._

_I was lucky to have my camera around when she did it, so I can actually show you the moment it happened and you can notice how happy she was to see a beautiful butterfly leave her wand! (She told me you, her and your sisters used to run after some when she was young. It must be a really special memory to her!)_

_You don’t need to worry, she’s safe here at Hogwarts and whenever she’s feeling sad, if she conjures her Patronus, everything bad surrounding her will go away! I can still watch after her, but really, she can take care of herself._

_Anyway, I hope you enjoy the picture and I hope you can see how really happy she was and is getting now!_

_Hope to talk to you soon!_

_Yours sincerely,_

_H. xx_

Harry gathered his stuff and went back to his room to put them away and get an envelope from his things to put the letter. After writing “ _To Louis Tomlinson_ ” on the back and a “ _From Harry E. Styles_ ” on the front, he headed to the Owlery, running fast so he would be able to be back to his dorm before his prefect duties time.

The cold wind made him shiver when he arrived at the top of the Owlery trying to find Marcel. On his way, he passed by Ruth and quickly patted her in the head, which made her screech. That owl was really weird.

He approached Marcel, taking a few blueberries from his robe’s pocket, which the bird was eager to eat.

“How are you feeling, buddy?” Harry asked, scratching Marcel’s head. The owl simply cooed in answer. “I have a pretty special task for you today. You’re gonna have to fly a little further, alright?”

Marcel tilted his head, looking at Harry with his big orange eyes.

“You’re gonna have to find Louis in London this time,” Harry patted his head and at that, Marcel spread his wings, hooting loudly, making the other owls look at him unimpressively.

“Yeah, I know, it’s been a long time since we talked to him. Are you excited?” Harry laughed and Marcel only flapped his wings again.

“Me too, just don’t look so smug because you’re getting to spend a few hours with him, while I’m here, alright?” Harry scratched the owl’s belly, making him hoot loud again.

“Behave, alright? And let him pat you for how as long as he wants, I know you are the one who likes to be spoiled, but do it for him, he must be in need of cuddles lately. If I could only…” Harry shook his head and Marcel tilted his head one more time, cooing. “Anyway, take care of this and come back here safely, will you? I can give you blueberries and strawberries if you return with a letter from him, what do you think?” Harry scratched Marcel’s neck again, and the owl bulged his eyes. “But no pressure, ok?” Harry laughed and Marcel blinked twice very slowly. He handed the envelope to Marcel and the bird took it in his beak. Harry moved his arm towards Marcel so the bird could jump on it, and walked to one of the big and open windows in the place.

The wind was getting colder and stronger, the sun about to set on the horizon.

“Now go,” Harry patted Marcel one last time before he opened his wings again, now flying into the sky. “Make sure Louis is ok,” he said, only to himself, as he watched his owl disappear.

*

Sunday breakfast was flooded with owls arriving to deliver mail to most of the students. Harry saw Marcel coming in his direction, bearing an envelope in his beak, and his heart started to race, because he knew there was only one place Marcel could’ve come from. He would be lying if he didn’t feel anxious all Saturday wondering if Louis would write back to him. He didn’t think the older boy would be impolite and ignore him, he had never done that, but this time Harry had written to him out of his own will. But it was to talk about Lottie. It was for a good cause. It wasn’t just because Harry was dying to talk to Louis again and know how the boy was.

Marcel flew above Harry, dropping the envelope right in front of him and letting out a happy hoot. Harry knew what that sound was about. He would later go to the Owlery with his promised treats.

After Marcel, two owls approached Lottie, who was sitting right in front of him as always. Ruth was the first one to drop an envelope in front of her, and the other, Harry recognized was one of the owls the mail used to deliver regular letters.

“Did you send Marcel to Gemma or your mum?” Niall asked beside him, looking at Harry’s envelope, intrigued.

“Er, no, I…” Harry took the envelope in his hands before Niall could be quick enough to take a look at it.

“Who’s this from, then?” Niall arched a brow, looking from Harry to the envelope.

“Excuse me, since when is my mail your business?” Harry answered back, looking outraged.

“Sorry, mate,” Niall raised his hands in apology. “You just never receive mail from other people, not usually through Marcel anyway…”

“Hey, that envelope looks like this one Louis sent me,” Harry heard Lottie call from the other side of the table. He turned to look at her to see her pointing at Harry’s envelope in his hand, and showing one of the envelopes she had received with her other hand.

“Hm, does it?” Niall rested his elbows on the table, supporting his head with the palm of his hands, looking at Harry expectantly.

“Does he send you his letters through normal mail?” Harry tried to change the subject of the conversation, not wanting them to focus on his envelope. “Why doesn’t Ruth collect his letters for you too?” he asked a little curious.

It was true, since the beginning of the school year, aside from the first letter Lottie got from her family, Lottie had always received two owls. He knew London was far away from Doncaster for Ruth to fly all the way over there to get Louis’ letter and bring back to Hogwarts, but still, it would be easier, Harry thought. This time though, Harry had just sent Louis Marcel. Louis could’ve used his owl to send his letter to Lottie, it would have made more sense than to have the trouble to use normal mail. But he didn’t, and Harry only wondered why. Maybe Louis didn’t want Lottie to know they were exchanging secret letters? He tried to supress the smile that was forming on his lips.

“I think he’s actually happy he doesn’t have to deal with Ruth anymore,” Lottie replied, “I think she misses him sometimes though, and I’ve already told him I could send her to his place, but he said he’d rather not, otherwise how would he explain to Liam why a random owl was delivering him letters?”

At that, Harry’s eyes popped as realisation hit him. He had completely forgotten about Louis’ roommate. He had sent Marcel to his place, when Louis was sharing a room with another muggle, who had no idea owls could deliver mails.

“That... makes sense,” Harry gulped, trying to stay calm and not freak out, now twisting the envelope in his hand, wondering what happened when Marcel arrived at Louis’ place. He was glad Marcel had come back to Hogwarts safely, but anything could have happened.

“What doesn’t make sense is why Harry is receiving muggle mail. I only wonder…” Niall spoke beside him, getting closer to him as if to catch the envelope in his hand.

“It even has the same pattern, look,” Lottie pointed again and Harry looked quickly from the girl to Niall.

“If you touch this envelope you will wish I never untangled your hands after Perrie jinxed you in third year,” Harry looked Niall right in the eye so determined Niall backed down immediately. “Now, if you excuse me, I have a letter to read that concerns none of you.” He knew he was being too harsh, but if any of them knew the letter belonged to Louis, he wouldn’t know how to explain it. Niall would never let him live another day without mocking him because of that, probably, and Lottie, well, he didn’t know how Lottie would react.

Plus, he really wanted this to be just a _HarryandLouis_ thing.

He got up from the table and marched outside the Great Hall, heading to the courtyard.

He made sure nobody (and by nobody he meant Niall) had followed him before he settled in one of the open spaces between the pillars, resting his back against the cold stone.

He was finally able to look at the envelope properly now, noticing how it had only a “ _To Harry_ ” written in one of the sides.

If Harry was starting to become more sure Louis didn’t want anyone to find out he was the one who had sent him the letter, he didn’t hold himself back this time and let out a large smile form on his face.

He opened the envelope quickly, taking a sheet of paper from it and started to read the letter.

_Dear Harry,_

_I must say it was quite a surprise to wake up today and find Marcel waiting outside my window. Not that I minded. I was starting to miss him, to be honest._

_I’m glad you wrote to me. I didn’t know if you would anymore because of what we had talked before and mostly because I didn’t know you could find me? I mean, since apparently Lottie told you I moved away, I didn’t know you’d know where to find me in London. I always assumed Ruth knew where our house was because she had been there and probably Lottie had told you where we lived the first times you sent Marcel… I don’t know how owls work, sorry. But I’m happy Marcel found me and delivered your letter._

_And, once more, you didn’t have to. I mean, yeah, I think I’m more worried about Lottie this year, for different reasons; But this time, this isn’t really something that you should have worried about. I’m glad though, because it shows that you are a loyal friend and I couldn’t be happier she has someone like you with her when I can’t be by her side to make sure she’s fine and to make her feel better during her tough times. I have no doubts you will keep your promise._

_I honestly don’t know what to say, because what you just told and showed me… Harry, this is more than anything I could’ve asked you to do for her. So just, thank you. Thank you for helping her and for teaching her how to do this beautiful thing. I knew she would be a great witch, she’s so smart, but this, this is a whole new level. She’s gonna conquer the world, I’m sure!_

_And forgive me If I’m kinda emotional right now because Lottie’s favourite animals are butterflies and it’s just, yeah, those memories are really special to us. I’m very proud and I kinda feel honoured too._

_So thank you once again. It feels good to know that Lottie has been taken care of by you so dearly. It feels good to know she will never be alone._

_It was good hearing from you too! Sorry for not talking to you at King’s Cross that day, I guess you now understand why. We are doing fine, or at least as fine as we can. I can notice Lottie is still upset about what happened and I don’t blame her, I’m still mad at Mark too, but, yeah. Uni is helping me forget about the problems at home, at least. And she has you there with her, so it’s ok._

_Anyway, I hope everything is great with you too!_

_Glad to hear from you, as always._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Louis x_

_Ps 1.: I feel like you’d prefer Lottie not to know you send me a letter? I mean, I received her letter too and she didn’t tell me about the Patronus thing, so I don’t think it’s something she’s ready to share just yet (and I have no idea why she wouldn’t). And if she knew that you sent me a letter to tell me that, she would be REALLY mad at both of us, so  I’ll try to keep this letter a secret, ok?_

_Ps 2.: If I was shocked to see Marcel arrive at home, you should have seen my roommate’s face when he came back from his morning jogging and found Marcel standing on the kitchen table. You should be glad Marcel is my favourite owl (don’t tell Ruth and Lottie), because Liam thinks I’m a weirdo who just happens to like to give his blueberries to random owls (and also name them. He didn’t think Marcel was a great name for an owl, can you believe? He was trying to convince me to change it to Leeroy... as if!) and let them stay inside our dorm... because I couldn’t tell him the truth, right? He almost kicked Marcel out of the dorm, but you don’t need to worry, Marcel was very well taken care of. You can send him whenever you want, because Liam will do whatever I tell him to, so, Marcel will grow on him eventually._

There was so many things going through Harry’s mind he didn’t know how to start to process Louis’ words.

One, Louis had written to him and he definitely wanted to keep it a secret. Not for the reasons Harry had hoped for. If it was for Lottie not to find out because she’d be mad at them, or if it was because Louis simply wanted to keep it confidential, it didn’t really matter. Louis had written back to Harry and only Harry.

Second, Louis believed in Harry’s promise to him. Louis was happy Harry was Lottie’s friend and that he had helped her. Louis was happy because of Harry, indirectly, but he was.

And third, Louis was so welcoming to Marcel even though his roommate apparently was not. But that was Harry’s fault, because he should have remembered there was another muggle living with Louis. Anyway, it didn’t matter. Louis hadn’t treated Marcel any different because of that and it only showed how much he cared about Marcel (Marcel was his favourite!!! Harry couldn’t wait to tell Marcel that, the owl would probably be ecstatic).

It would have been better if there wasn’t a roommate and if Harry actually knew what Louis meant with “Liam will do whatever I’ll tell him to”, but he wasn’t going to dwell on that (he wasn’t jealous, no, not at all), because Louis said that he had missed Marcel and that Harry could send him whenever he wanted. Could it be that Louis meant he missed Harry and that Harry could write to him whenever he wanted? Harry tried to keep his excitement at bay. He was only going to keep this letter along with the others Louis had sent him inside his journal and if he read the letter again later that day, nobody needed to know.

 

_**December, 2010** _

 

Winter had arrived earlier and stronger that year at Hogwarts and whenever the students had a break, they preferred to spend it inside their Common Rooms, near the fireplace.

With all his classes and homework, Harry hardly had any break and that’s why he found himself in the middle of a crowded Slytherin Common Room trying to do his Ancient Runes assignment.

Concentrating was very hard with all the chatting around him and he really wanted to yell at all those students and take points from them if they didn’t shut up, but he couldn’t because there wasn’t really any reason, they were simply chilling. Harry was the one who should have gone somewhere else to study, but well, now he was already there, settled near the fire; it would take too much energy to move and make himself cosy anywhere else.

“Harry?” He heard someone call him as he was just about to finally start writing his essay. He looked up to find Lottie standing beside him. “Are you busy?” The girl asked, cautiously.

“Hm, sort of, but, do you need anything?” He replied, observing how Lottie was a little hesitant to talk to him. He really had to write his essay, but if something was bothering Lottie, it could wait a little. After all, Snakes took care of each other. He wouldn’t keep Lottie waiting.

“I just wanted to talk to you, but if you’re busy, I can come back…”

“No, we can talk now,” Harry interrupted her, folding his parchment paper and putting his quill back in his inkwell. “I wasn’t in the mood to finish this right now, anyway. Go on, what’s up?” He said, indicating her to sit on the chair beside him.

Lottie did so and started fidgeting with the hem of her scarf, looking down at her hands before finally talking.

“Do you think it’s selfish for me to stay here at Hogwarts for Christmas?” She looked up at him, with some sad eyes. It hurt Harry to see that expression again. It had been weeks since he had seen her like that. He really believed she was feeling better and he only imagined she would be finally relieved to be going home for the holidays to stay with her family after all those months away. Harry didn’t understand why she was asking him that.

“You don’t want to go home?”

“I don’t know. I really miss everyone, but I’m not sure I’m ready to go home and see everything so different, without dad there and Louis only spending a few days with us,” she looked down again, sighing deeply.

Harry pondered what to say. “I don’t think it’s selfish,” he put his hand on top of hers, “You have the right to still feel sad about what happened. Nobody can blame you for feeling this way.”

“I know, it’s just,” she looked at him again, and Harry could see her eyes watery, “being here has made me so much happier. It’s not that I don’t think I won’t be happy at home again. I just don’t want to feel sad again right now, and I know that if I go back, I won’t be completely happy. I don’t want mum to feel devastated if I don’t go, but if I do, she will notice that something isn’t ok, so, I don’t know what to do.”

“Do whatever you feel it will be best for you, Lots. I mean, your mum will probably feel sad, but if you explain to her how you’re feeling, I’m sure she will understand and will want the best for you,” Harry tried to reassure her.

He didn’t know much about the Tomlinson family aside from what he had noticed and what Lottie had told him, but he knew they were all very supportive of each other; and he had noticed Jay trusted Lottie to make her own decisions, so he believed her mother would understand how she was feeling.

“It will be my first Christmas away from home, though,” Lottie looked around the Common Room, taking in the space. The merpeople were swimming mindlessly outside the windows, making all kinds of shadows appear on the walls due to the light coming from the fire.

“I’ve spent some Christmas here too and honestly, Christmas at Hogwarts is really something,” he squeezed her hand, smiling at her. “The feast is incredible, even more scrumptious than the one in the beginning of the year!”

At that, Lottie’s eyes widened and Harry laughed.

“And, listen, I was already thinking about spending Christmas here again this year. Mum and Gem will visit some of our relatives in the South and I wasn’t really up for it, so, if you decide to stay, I’ll be here too…”

“Really?” She asked, a little bit more excited. “That would be great, Danny said she would also stay here, so, it will be really cool to spend it with you too.”

“Yeah, it will be nice to spend Christmas here with you girls, but first, just talk to your mother. I’m sure she will understand. Don’t leave it for the last minute, though, Christmas is just two weeks away,” Harry smiled once more, taking his hand from Lottie’s.

“Yeah, of course. I’ll write to her now. Thank you, Harry,” she nodded at him as she got up. Harry watched as she disappeared back to her dorm.

*

The week leading up to Christmas started with Hogwarts almost empty. Most of the students had already gone home during the weekend and the ones who decided to remain in the school either spent their time in their Common Rooms or in the Great Hall.

Lottie had decided to stay after talking to her mother and receiving her permission. Jay said she had understood what the girl wanted, even though it wouldn’t be the same without her at home, but if that was what would make Lottie happy, she would be happy too.

So Harry, Lottie, Danny and only a few other students from Slytherin were hanging at the Slytherin table during breakfast on Monday morning. Niall had gone home to spend it with his family as he told Harry his brother would be taking his new girlfriend home for the first time and he couldn’t miss it.

Harry had been happy that Niall wasn’t there at that moment as he saw an owl come through the window into his direction, dropping an envelope right in front of him.

Lottie and Danny looked at him curiously and Harry was actually nervous because that wasn’t Marcel. It was one of the post owls and if he was able to recognize that envelope, so was Lottie.

“Why do you keep getting muggle mail, Harry?” She asked and Harry knew she didn’t do it out of cruelty, like Niall would; it was simply curiosity.

“I– I’ve been trying to, hm, get in touch with a place that produces your glitter pens?” He tried to come up with an excuse and that was the only thing that he could think of. He only hoped Lottie would buy it.

“Why didn’t you tell me? I would have asked Louis to talk to them! You want more of those pens?” She questioned and she really sounded like she didn’t notice anything wrong with Harry’s story.

Harry almost froze at the mention of Louis’ name, but he tried to look as normal as he could. “I didn’t think about that, I just wanted to have more colours to see if we could come up with the same ones. It’s really nothing, I just wrote to them that other time and now they wrote back. I’m just gonna check what they wrote, I’ll be right back…” He got up from the table, hoping the girls wouldn’t notice his eagerness to read a letter that was supposed to be from a business.

He rushed to get back to the dungeons, where he knew nobody would interrupt him.

He sat down on the black leather couch in front of the fireplace, finally taking a look at the envelope. He didn’t even need to check if it was from Louis, but when he read “ _To Harry E. Styles_ ” in the boy’s handwriting, his heart started to beat faster.

Why would Louis be writing to him? It had been almost a month since they had exchanged letters and there wasn’t really a reason for Louis to write to him out of the blue. Harry was starting to get anxious. He almost tore apart the envelope to open it and he quickly fetched the letter to start reading it.

_Dear Harry,_

_I hope you don’t mind me writing to you, but I really needed to._

_Mum told me a few days ago Lottie is going to stay at Hogwarts during Christmas. Then I got Lottie’s letter on Saturday telling me the same. I was ready to spend the holidays with her, but it seems this is not going to be the case. Mum says she’s fine with Lottie staying there, but I’m not sure how to deal with it. I know I shouldn’t worry, but by now I guess you know how I am. At least I know you’re going to be with her._

_So. We’re back to square one. Christmas is a big deal and she’s away from home this time. I know I’ve already asked too much of you before and you already do much more than you should, but… Can I ask you, just one more time, to check on her and see if she’s really ok? Make sure she has a good Christmas?_

_And you too! You should enjoy Christmas with my little sis, she’s a squealing mess every Christmas morning, if past years are anything to go by. Have fun with her for me, since I can’t be there._

_I hope I can count on you, Curls._

_Have a Happy Christmas!_

_Louis xx_

_Ps.: She likes to cuddle in front of the fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate. If she falls asleep, DON’T wake her up, or else she’ll get super cranky._

Harry had to read the letter a few more times before he finally made sense of what Louis was saying. Harry wasn’t expecting Louis to come directly to him asking him to look after his sister again. And it wasn’t something that crazy or absurd. Louis had practically asked Harry after meeting him for 5 minutes, without knowing each other, to take care of Lottie last year. But this time, it felt different, more personal.

And Harry knew exactly what to do to assure Louis that everything was under control.

He got up from the couch and headed to his dorm. He got there and quickly opened his trunk, going through it to find the package of photos he had been gathering for months now. He went through them to find the most recent ones and selected the ones he thought would make Louis sure that Lottie was fine.

The last one he found, was one of his favourites. It wasn’t exactly the most recent. It was actually from Halloween night, that night when he and Niall were trying to make her laugh at all costs. Niall had been walking around the Great Hall with Harry’s camera, taking pictures of everything and everyone until he came back to Harry and Lottie at the Slytherin table. Harry had been poking her nonstop that night and she was reluctant to even open a smile, but when Niall caught their attention, she managed to smile slightly at the camera as Harry embraced her in a hug and Niall took [ their picture](https://68.media.tumblr.com/6c16a0840b429f9be9dd58813d0e48f4/tumblr_okcuqfNKjq1vnwncjo3_400.jpg).

Harry sat by the table with all the pictures in hand and got a piece of parchment to write his reply to Louis.

_Dear Louis,_

_I’m happy you wrote to me, there’s no problem with that at all!_

_I understand you being concerned about Lottie and her decision to stay at Hogwarts, but really, there’s no need to worry. Hogwarts is one of the best places to stay during this time of the year and Lottie will be okay here, I can promise you that. Hogwarts is her home too, she’ll be happy here, you can be sure._

_I guess I can keep a tradition of sending you some pictures of her so you’ll know she’s having a great time. We know these past couple of months haven’t been easy for her, but still, she is making the most of it!_

_I hope you enjoy them! Take them as my birthday and Christmas present for you this year, Louis! I know that what you’d have wanted was to have Lottie by your side, at home with your family, but I hope that seeing how happy she is here, it will make you happy too._

_Happy Holidays and Happy Birthday!_

_Yours sincerely,_

_H. xx_

_Ps.: I know how cranky Lottie can get, so I’ll be sure to not wake her up! She may be small, but she’s fierce, that one._

Harry folded the parchment paper and put it inside an envelope together with the pictures he selected. Before putting his photo with Lottie inside it too, he wrote on the back _“Happy Birthday, Louis xx”._

He sealed the letter and quickly got a thick coat to put on before heading to the Owlery to give Marcel the letter to send it to Louis. When he got there, the place was almost as empty as Hogwarts was, but among a few other owls, Marcel was standing there, itching under his wing.

“I’m sorry to make you fly in this weather,” he said, patting Marcel on the head, who accepted the cuddle closing his eyes. “But I guess you won’t mind doing this for me, right? When have you not been excited to see Louis?” and at that, Marcel opened his big orange eyes, hooting loudly.

“Yeah, I knew you wouldn’t mind it,” Harry laughed, already handing the envelope to Marcel. “So, fly safely to Doncaster, ok? I’m sure he’s already there to spend the holidays with his family.”

Marcel quickly got on Harry’s arm and the boy went to the edge of the big window to let the owl fly to his destination.

“Wish him a happy birthday for me, will you?” Harry scratched his neck and Marcel only opened his wings excitedly, already taking flight.

The snow was falling smoothly as he watched Marcel fly away. At the sight, Harry realized he had only one Christmas wish this year: that his letter would make Louis happy this holiday.

 

_**February, 2011** _

 

The beginning of the year had been better than Harry expected. His Christmas wish came true when he received a reply from his letter to Louis, thanking him for the pictures and for showing him that Lottie was going to be fine away from home. He even said he was going to keep Harry’s picture with Lottie in his wallet (whatever Louis had meant with that. Harry still had to ask Lottie what that was).

Because of Harry, Louis spent his birthday and his Christmas a lot calmer, and that was something that definitely made the start of his year worth it.

And when he thought it couldn’t get any better, his birthday arrived with another unexpected letter from Louis. That almost gave them away in the middle of the Slytherin table, with the way he was smiling so big at Louis’ card. He barely managed to contain himself, or else how would he explain to Niall and Lottie why he was so excited over another supposed letter from the pen company he said he had been writing to (but he literally squealed once he opened the letter back at his dorm, surprised to see that inside the envelope there were two pens. Louis didn’t need to send him that. He didn’t need to buy him a birthday present – glitter pens, for Merlin’s sake).

He kept the letter and the pens to himself, hidden in his trunk, with his journal and the previous letters Louis had already sent him. It was his little secret... their little secret.

February seemed to be another great month and Harry was feeling very excited, as were all the other Slytherin students, with everyone getting pumped up for their first Quidditch match of the year.

The game was against Ravenclaw and the entire Quidditch stadium was in green and blue as the Houses gathered in the stands to watch the match.

Harry had accompanied Lottie and her friends to their seats as Niall had headed to his commentator's spot.

The game had barely started and Slytherin was already in the lead of the game, with Jade Thirlwall scoring 10 points against the Ravenclaw keeper.

The whole Slytherin section erupted in loud cheers at that. Harry saw Lottie hugging Danny beside her and quickly turn to embrace her too.

“What a nice throw from Thirlwall! The Slytherin Goddess strikes effortlessly, scoring for the House! That girl, she is like thunder! Wish she would strike me too!” Niall exclaimed, commenting enthusiastically on the match.

“Horan!” Professor Longbottom voice could be heard beside him, calling his attention.

“Sorry, Professor! But don’t worry, you are still the highest entity in my haven…”

“Don’t make me take points from you now, Horan!” Professor Longbottom tried to sound serious, but he was actually trying to contain his laughter.

Niall’s loud laugh echoed on the stadium. “And wow, look at that! Perrie Edwards beats a Bludger towards a Ravenclaw chaser! If I were her ex-boyfriend, I would watch out for my head, or any other rounded part! What a girl!” Niall commented, making the students laugh around him.

Ravenclaw was able to score some points as the game progressed, but still, Slytherin was winning with 50 points ahead of them.

James McVey scored once again for Slytherin and the crowd cheered more encouragements to the players, as they saw Freya Mavor finally catch sight of the Snitch and chasing after it.

“Go, Slytherin!” Lottie yelled beside Harry, throwing her hands in the air and swinging her horns around mindlessly, without paying attention to whom was behind her.

“Hey, Mudblood, watch–” A voice came from behind Harry and the only reaction he had to hear _that word_ was to turn around and curse whoever was behind him. “ _Silencio!_ ” Harry blurted furiously.

The boy in question was baffled, looking terrified at Harry. Lottie was too, not understanding Harry’s reaction.

He heard Danny gasping beside Lottie and then saw Lottie looking from Danny to him, confused.

“Minus 50 points, Rosier, and you will get a month of detention.” Harry was serious and assertive, but speaking in a very smooth and slow tone.

Craig Rosier only popped his eyes, not able to say a word.

“What the heck, Styles, why are you defending this mu–” another boy beside Rosier said, stepping closer to Harry, with his wand already in hand. Harry only twisted his own wand in his direction, making the boy’s wand fly away.

“If you speak this word again, Rowle, it will be more 50 points from you. I haven’t been implanting this non-prejudiced policy for you to throw it around right at my face. Slughorn will be waiting for you to start your detention, both of you.”

“Your policy is stupid, Styles, everybody knows what Salazar thought about muggleborns in Slytherin,” Pirus Rowle answered back, not looking intimidated by Harry.

“Your thoughts are bigoted and outdated,” Harry said emphatically, “Salazar’s been dead for centuries, get over it,” he clutched his hand tighter around his wand.

“You are a disgrace to the Slytherins, and so is she, you don’t belong in here,” Pirus looked down at Lottie, unimpressed. The girl only took a step aside, getting closer to Danny, who held her wand towards the boy too.

Harry was almost fuming by now, and he only raised his wand one more time, swishing it in their direction, making Pirus’ and Craig’s robes disappear. The boys looked shocked at themselves, not knowing what to do as the people around them started to pay attention to the exchange and actually laugh at their state.

Harry laughed humourlessly. “I am a Slytherin and a Prefect. You are just a shame, two whiny babies. You are the ones who don’t deserve to wear our colours. If I were you, I would rethink your beliefs. Or don’t, just go away. You will see,” Harry looked back at Lottie after seeing the boys turn around, leaving the stands and running away from the crowd. He only sneakily smiled at her and flicked his wand again in the direction of the boys. They both yelped.

“Harry, what did you just do? You’re a Prefect, you can’t…” Lottie was still in shock, holding Danny’s hand and looking at him incredulously, even though she had a smug smile on her face.

“They deserved that. They can’t just walk around saying that word.”

“Besides,” Danny added, “we Slytherins take care of ourselves. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, or who we have to fight against.”

“But what does that mean?” Lottie quickly beat them with a question, getting closer to Harry. “I’ve heard that before.”

Harry sighed, already feeling drained and tired from imagining Lottie hearing that and now having to explain it to her.

“It’s a prejudiced word against muggleborns, mostly used by spoiled pure bloods who think they are better than everyone else,” Harry turned back to face the pitch again. “I’ve been trying to change this ugly thinking they bring from their homes, because times have changed and they should learn better.”

“Pure bloods have been more accepting of muggleborns since the last war. My mum keeps talking about how it was worse before. Our family was a bit prejudiced too but now they learned better. Some Slytherins, though,” Danny noted, swinging Lottie’s hand in hers.

“So they think witches like me shouldn’t be in Slytherin?” Lottie looked at her, a little dejected.

“Yep, but,” Danny shook her head, “don’t listen to them. You’re a Sly, and my best friend. They should be the ones who shouldn’t be here.”

“You chose to be in Slytherin and the Sorting Hat thought this would be the best House for you and the Hat is never wrong,” Harry added. “Besides, you’re not the only one the Hat has been indecisive before,” he confessed.

“You…?” Lottie asked curiously.

“Yeah, the Hat didn’t know if it should put me in Hufflepuff or Slytherin, but I chose our House because I always wanted to achieve something big, and Slytherin is the quickest way for that; and plus,” Harry chuckled, “Niall had already been sorted here, so I wanted to follow that Irish bastard that made me laugh so much on the Express.”

At that, Lottie giggled. “I think we have that in common, because I also chose Slytherin because of you.” Harry could see the girl blushing beside him as she confessed it to him.

Danny giggled at them too. “That’s so weird, I thought I’d be in Gryffindor with Tommy but here I am, no choosing for me. I don’t regret it though, there’s no better House. Or better friends.”

“I feel flattered,” he half-hugged them, “and glad, because that way we became friends and I can protect you all from these ugly bullies.”

“Now you just sounded like Louis,” Lottie laughed.

At the mention of the boy’s name, Harry felt his nose scrunch up. He turned his face from the girls and scratched his cheek, trying to hide his expression.

“And that’s a score!” Niall’s excited voice invaded their bubble. “Another ten points to Slytherin. Man, we are on fire today!”

Slytherin won the game by 270-90. It made Harry, Lottie and Danny feel extra proud to be in their House. It was difficult for Harry to calm down the butterflies in his stomach from such double win, though.

 

_**June, 2011** _

 

When the Hogwarts Express finally stopped at King’s Cross station, Harry was proud of himself for what a good year it had been. He still had to guide and help some of the students out of the train, but he had accomplished big achievements already: he finished the school year with high grades again; Slytherin had won the Quidditch and House Cups; Lottie had been a lot better by the end of their classes, being able to conjure her butterfly Patronus more than once that year, and also, Harry felt like he had been a lot more closer to Louis than he had ever imagined. But there was still something missing for his year to finish with a flourish; he still hoped to see Louis one last time before heading home for his summer holiday.

“Harry!” Lottie appeared beside him as he helped a Hufflepuff with blue hair unload his truck. “Glad I could catch you before I leave!”

“All set, Teddy, you can go now. Don’t scare the first years again, ok?” Harry said to the boy, before turning his attention to Lottie.

“I don’t know what you mean, copycat,” the boy replied, blinking with his newly transformed cat eyes, innocently. He quickly grabbed his trunk and sprinted away from them.

“That boy is so weird,” Lottie observed, chuckling.

“He’s alright,” Harry shook his head, laughing too. “Anyway, do you need anything? Is your mother already here to pick you up?” He added nonchalantly.

“Oh, no, only Louis is coming this time,” she smiled at him, and Harry hoped she didn’t catch the smile that was trying to form on his own face at the thought of finally seeing Louis again, “since it’s easier because he now lives in London and mum would have to skip her job and travel all the way from Doncaster,” she continued. “Oh, talking about Doncaster, that’s what I wanted to remind you.”

“Yeah?”

“I know I’ve already asked you like a billion times, but I just wanted to make sure you don’t forget about it,” Lottie looked at him, a little timidly, “but will you please consider coming to my birthday party this summer? I just feel like, you’ve been a very important part of my life this year and it would mean the world to me if you were there.”

It wasn’t the first time Harry had heard Lottie tell him that. Lottie had spent the past few months thanking him for helping her overcome her sadness and every time she did, he felt more flattered and warm hearted by that. But at the same time, thinking about going to the Tomlinsons, meeting Lottie away from Hogwarts, was making him nervous and anxious. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to. Lottie was his friend, just like Niall was and he had visited the Horans many times during the past years, but Niall didn’t have a Louis as a brother and Harry didn’t know if he could handle meeting Louis outside of their letters and brief encounters at King’s Cross, as much as he wanted to.

“Oh, yeah, I didn’t forget about your invitation! I’ll just have to check-”

“There you are!” Niall suddenly appeared behind Harry, “I thought I had missed you already!”

“Niall, good that you’re still here too!” Lottie exclaimed, clapping her hands, “so I can remind you of my birthday party too! Will you come with Harry?”

“Harry decided to go?” Niall looked at him, arching a brow.

“I haven’t yet, I still have to-” Harry tried to speak again, but the boy interrupted him.

“Well, I guess he’ll have to go all by himself, because unfortunately I’ll be traveling with the fam again, sorry Lots,” Niall shrugged, apologetically, but looking knowingly at Harry.

“Oh, that’s a bummer,” Lottie pouted, looking from Niall to Harry “but… Oh, Louis is here already!” She quickly turned to face the crowd in front of them, probably spotting her brother there.

“Oh, Louis is here!” Niall nudged Harry, who only gave him an exasperated glance. “Go get him, tiger!” He whispered to Harry, sneakily winking at him. “I’ll have to go, now. Just wanted to say goodbye to you guys. See you after summer, Lottie!” He said, after waving at her and slapping Harry on the bum before turning around and sprinting away, laughing like the hellish Leprechaun he was.

“Bye Niall!” She waved back. “Harry, come, come, let’s go talk to Louis!”

She didn’t even wait for Harry’s response and Harry was sure there wasn’t going to be one since he was too dumbstruck to actually have a reaction. Louis was there, a few steps away from him. He was not sporting his usual glasses this time, clear blue eyes staring at him from afar.

He let Lottie pull him towards Louis with the hand that wasn’t pulling her trolley, every step shivery with the butterflies in his stomach.

“LOUIS! Please convince Harry to come to my birthday party!” Lottie said expectantly, not even leaving space for Louis and Harry to greet each other. Harry felt his cheeks flush and his tongue tie.

“Well, hello strangers!” He hugged Lottie and looked back at Harry. “Oh, he doesn’t want to come? How dare he?” Louis asked mockingly, and Harry thought he could die right then and there, feeling exposed by such an awaited proximity.

“No!” Harry managed to say, but not thinking before speaking, which made Louis give him a confused look. “I mean, no,” he tried to correct himself, “it’s not that I don’t want to go, I’d love to! I just have to see if mum and Gemma will want to travel again…”

“Well, Curls, it won’t kill to visit u– Lottie, for a day, will it?” Louis smiled at him, fixing his fringe over his forehead.

Harry gulped, not sure what to do or to say after that.

“Yeah, Harry, please come! Mum will be so happy to see you!” Lottie had some big pleading blue eyes and Harry just couldn’t say no to his friend like that.

“I’ll try my best to make it, ok? I’ll write to you letting you know, for sure,” Harry smiled at her and quickly looked at Louis, who only murmured a thank you at him.

“Great! I’ll be waiting then!” She hugged him tightly and Harry reciprocated the gesture, looking up to Louis, who whispered at him.

“Really, thank you for taking care of her.”

“Don’t mention it,” Harry whispered back as Lottie let go of their embrace.

“Guess it’s time to go now!” She started to push her trolley towards the exit, “I’ll send Ruth to you if you don’t write to me, that’s a warning! Bye, Harry, have a great summer!”

“Bye Lots!” He laughed, as he waved at her, “and don’t worry, Marcel will pay you a visit soon enough!”

“Well, I’ll be waiting for your visit too, then. See you soon, Harry,” Louis winked at him, as he followed behind Lottie.

At that, Harry smiled slowly, only thinking if Louis would really be looking forward to meeting him again.

Guess he would have to wait and see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter and all Marcel's reactions to visiting Louis is dedicated to Genny, the number one Larcel shipper!
> 
> I'd also like to thank her and Dani for the massive help with the manip! <3


	4. Summer 2011

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PSA: We wrote Chapter 3 of ELTHDIM a long time ago and as with the rest of the plot of the fic, Jay has a big cameo in it. We understand that there are some people who will find it uncomfortable to read fanfics with her after her passing, so we just wanted to give a heads up before any of you read it (and if you’d like to skip it or stop reading the fic, we totally understand).
> 
> We don’t think we’ll stop including her in the fic, though, because, as in real life, shes’s very important to Louis in it. We remind everyone that this is a work of fiction and it doesn’t reflect on any aspect of real life.
> 
> We just want to say that we’re deeply sad for Jay’s passing. All the love and strength to Louis and all his family. Rest in peace, Jay xx
> 
> We hope this chapter and this fanfic can bring a little bit of joy to the fandom and to those who will read it, we hope you will enjoy it! :)
> 
> Ste and Star xx

_**August, 2011** _

 

Apparation wasn’t one of the most pleasant things one could experience, Harry knew that, but the butterflies in his stomach weren’t exactly because of it.

The anticipation had been there, fluttering since a few weeks ago, when he sent Lottie the RSVP to her birthday party. There was no going back, that was his chance to see and talk to (and possibly, oh Merlin help him, flirt with) Louis. And that was definitely something that was keeping him awake at night, for more reasons than one.

“You’ve done this before, Harry, c’mon,” his reflection encouraged him while Harry was nervously fixing his hair in front of the mirror beside his wardrobe.

“Yeah, I know, I know…” He mumbled back, as he took Lottie’s gift in hand.

Marcel, standing on the windowsill of his open window, hooted loudly, catching the boy’s attention.

“Oh, not you too,” he walked towards the owl, who only blinked at him once, very slowly and then started to scratch his wings with his beak. “It’s easy for you, since you’ve been there so many times!” Harry poked his tongue at Marcel and patted his head.

Marcel chirped and Harry shook his head, rolling his eyes at him. Marcel opened his wings and tilted his head at Harry and no, Harry wasn’t seeing his big orange eyes almost begging to take him to the Tomlinsons too.

“Sorry, buddy, you gotta stay here today,” Marcel hooted loudly once again and Harry could notice he was a little annoyed. “You were there two weeks ago! Stop being a spoiled brat! Merlin… let me have it this time, alright?” Harry tried to sound serious but he was trying to contain his laughter. He couldn’t believe he was actually fighting with Marcel over a certain Muggle’s attention.

At that, he felt a little bit more at ease. The butterflies were still there of course, but they were quickly going to be replaced by that nauseous feeling once he apparated.

He turned around, going back to his previous spot in front of the mirror.

“You can do it, Harry, don’t be a coward,” he looked himself once again at the mirror, his reflection winking at him and giving a thumb up for support.

Marcel hooted one more time and looked away from Harry to the view outside the window.

Harry laughed and then took some deep breaths, before he focused on the address Lottie had sent him.

“Alright,” Harry closed his eyes and clutched the pink package against his body. There wasn’t any more delaying, he had to do it. “On the count of three… One… two… three… go!”

He took one last deep breath and everything around him started to spin.

*

Louis wasn’t nervous. He definitely wasn’t. Just because he spent more time than usual trying to decide on what to wear and fixing his hair in front of the mirror, it didn’t mean he was nervous. There was no reason for him to be nervous. It wasn’t his birthday. It was his sister’s birthday. She was the one who should be anxious and waiting expectantly for her guests. She was supposed to be the one rushing to the front door to answer it after hearing the doorbell. Not Louis. Nope, Louis shouldn’t be the one almost having a heart attack every time he got to the door.

“Hi Louis!” A very excited long-haired brunette girl said as soon as Louis opened the door.

“Hey, Em,” he replied, trying not to sound too disappointed with the fact that he’d rather it be another brunette person. A brown-haired male, not with long hair, but short, and curly. “Come on in, Lots is with the other girls in her bedroom,” he let the girl inside and closed the door behind her.

He watched his sister’s friend run to the stairs, with a package in her hands, and go up to Lottie’s bedroom.

“You decided to be the official doorman today, eh?” Louis turned his gaze away as he heard his mother’s voice come from the kitchen door. “Expecting someone special?”

He knew she was teasing. And he knew exactly who she was teasing him about. Really, he could only blame himself for that, since his mother caught him asking Lottie if Harry had confirmed if he was coming to her party (“ _Have you seen Marcel around, Lou? I would’ve know if he had sent me anything!” “No, but I don’t know, don’t you have other ways of talking to each other? WizPhone? Motorowl?” “I’m sure he wouldn’t miss the opportunity to send Marcel to you, love…” “I don’t know what you’re talking about, mum…”_ ) and he couldn’t help himself to get extra cuddly with Marcel when he finally arrived.

He simply rolled his eyes and walked towards the kitchen, passing by her as she gave him a smirk.

“Oh, don’t pretend you haven’t been waiting for Harry to appear every time you open that door, Louis.” She followed him inside as he sat by the table.

“Why would I be waiting for Harry Styles, Lottie’s friend, not mine…”

“So you’re telling me you didn’t get dressed up in your best striped shirt and khaki trousers after spending a week wearing only joggers?”

“It’s Lottie’s birthday, of course I would dress up well.”

“For a certain curly, green-eyed wizard?” Jay sat on the chair in front of him, with her brows raised.

“What are you on about, mum? Why would I…” Louis was trying to stay put and not give away how he was really feeling to his mother. If he was dressing up for Harry, that was not his mother’s business. He didn’t understand her obsession with making a point that he and Harry liked each other. She was very supportive of Louis liking boys, had been since the first time Louis told her how he really felt about his sexuality. She was always encouraging him to go out and meet people, but she had never been so insistent in setting him up with anyone as she was with him and Harry.

“Louis,” she interrupted him in a serious tone, making him look directly at her. “I’m you mother and I know you very well to know when you are having a crush on someone. It’s not every day your eyes shine every time you speak about someone or hear their name– his name, in this case. You like him, and no,” she raised a hand as she saw Louis trying to speak over her, making him quiet again, “don’t try to argue with me. You know you do, and has so for a long time and he is a lovely boy. I don’t see why it’s taking you so long..."

“But he’s a wizard,” Louis finally spoke, in a low tone, in case Lottie’s friend would appear out of nowhere and catch their conversation. “Yeah, he’s nice and lovely, but what would he want with a boy like me? A normal guy, who can’t do shit? Besides, we don’t even know each other.” He looked downward at his own hands on top of the table.

“You’re not ordinary, Louis! Don’t sell yourself so short, darling,” Jay put his hand on top of his, caressing it gently.

“But what if he finds me boring? What if I find him boring? We literally have nothing in common,” Louis shook his head.

“If you didn’t have anything in common, then tell me why you’re keeping his letters stacked up under your mattress?” Jay squeezed his hand, making him look up at her again. “If you didn’t have anything in common, you wouldn’t be writing to each other. You have Lottie in common, you can be friends as well, you like each other.”

“I don’t think it can work like that,” he sighed, deeply. “Lottie is a witch, they have that in common. I just happen to be her muggle brother and yeah, we may like each other in our letters, but what if we don’t like each other in person?”

“I doubt the way I saw Harry looking at you the times I’ve seen you two meet at King’s Cross is the look of someone who wouldn’t like you.” She tilted her head, with a smug smile.

“Mum!” Louis rolled his eyes one more time, giggling a bit.

“I’m just speaking the truth! Don’t freak out, love. I think you two could start something beautiful, even if it’s just a friendship. Lottie would love for you to become closer too.” She patted his hand and got up from the chair, going to check on the oven, where the cake was baking.

“I would what?” Louis turned around as he heard his sister appear by the kitchen door, accompanied by her friends – her old friends from school Emily, Laura, Martha and Angie, and also Danny, Courtney and Skye, her witch friends.

Louis had been wondering how this encounter would be, with Lottie’s old friends and her new and witch/wizard friends meeting. He only hoped it wouldn’t be awkward. He hoped the witches wouldn’t find his family and house weird and he hoped Lottie’s old friends wouldn’t notice something different with Lottie and her new friends. He hoped this clash of worlds wouldn’t be in the way of them having a great time that day.

(That was also what he hoped wouldn’t happen with him and Harry once they got to know each other properly).

“You’d love for this cake to be baked already, wouldn’t you all?” Jay turned with a big smile on her face, as if her last comment hadn’t happened.

“Yeah!” The girls all exclaimed.

“It’ll still take a while, so why don’t you all go outside? Fizzy must have already finished setting up the table there with the twins. Go help yourselves with some sweets and have some fun while we wait! Everybody’s here already, right?”

“The girls, yes, there’s only…” Lottie was about to say when they all heard the sound of the doorbell and Louis simply bolted from his seat.

“I’ll get the door!” He announced already heading to the hallway to reach the door. If he heard the girls giggle behind him, he pretended he didn’t notice them.

Yes, thinking back, he realized how obvious he had been, but fuck it, if any of them commented on anything, he would just scare those girls away – maybe not the witches, those he was just a tiny bit terrified of what they could do to him.

He got to the door and took a deep breath, holding the knob a little longer before finally opening it.

Louis didn’t know what to expect when he opened the door, but surely, what he saw was anything near of what he had thought. Of course, he knew Harry wouldn’t arrive at his house wearing his usual Hogwarts robe, the only thing Louis had seen the boy wearing the 5 times he saw him at King’s Cross (not that he counted or paid close attention). What he hadn’t thought about was that Harry could actually dress up casually, and with the dark grey blazer he was wearing over the white polo shirt, along with the dark blue jeans and white converse… That was a complete new and different Harry. He looked almost like your typical muggle next door.

“Louis, hi!” Harry said, smile as big as his own face, making both dimples on his cheeks appear, his curls wild and in every direction, longer than Louis had remembered them.

Harry tried to stay calm, tried to put his guts back in place after just apparating. Yes, he had been standing in front of the Tomlinson’s front door for a few good minutes trying to pull himself together before ringing the doorbell, but seeing Louis right in front of him again, the butterflies were totally back.

Louis didn’t know where to look. If he looked at Harry’s flushed face, his shining green eyes, his clothes – because damn, that boy knew how to sport some nice clothes, he had to admit, the pink package Harry was carrying or to the street and the fact that Harry was all alone, with no sight of anybody bringing him there.

“Where did you come from, Curls?” Louis asked in lieu of greeting him. “Did you come flying? With your broom?” Louis was trying to keep his face serious, because he only knew one way to deal with the situation, and it was to make fun of it.

Harry’s smile was replaced by confusion on his face “Hm, no? We can’t ride our brooms in daylight, especially around muggle neighbourhoods... I apparated.”

“You what?” Louis blinked twice very fast.

“I apparated. I mean, it’s like,” the younger boy scratched the back of his neck, trying to think of how to explain Louis that, “I travelled. It's kind of what you muggles would call teletransportation, I think? That’s what Lottie told me it was like when I explained it to her…”

“You can teletransport? Like, for real?” Louis was ecstatic. “Now I remember, yeah. Lottie told me once, I just... holy shit, I didn’t think it was like, really possible.”

Harry giggled at Louis’ babbling. “Yes, it is,” Harry looked at him, finally realizing that, one, just like last June, Louis wasn’t wearing his glasses and his blue eyes were shining; and two, Louis was dressed so nice, not that he never did every time they met at King’s Cross, but today he was a whole other level.

“Wicked!” Louis smiled at Harry. “Oh I’m sorry, what an impolite twat I am, I didn’t even say hi properly to you. So, come on in,” Louis stepped aside, giving Harry space to finally enter the house.

“No problem. Excuse me,” Harry entered and looked around him, taking the house in, curiously. It wasn’t so different from his own home in Holmes Chapel, but definitely peculiar to see so many objects standing still, with no sight of magic around.

“First time in a muggle house?” Louis asked after closing the door. “Not as magical as yours, innit?” He joked.

“Yes, kinda weird, but… that’s not important, this is your home. It’s quite nice actually!” Harry replied, looking back at Louis.

“Harry!” Lottie’s voice interrupted him as both boys turned to see her coming from the kitchen at the end of the hall.

“Hey, Lots, happy birthday!” Harry walked towards the girl, meeting her in the middle and hugging her tightly.

“Thanks! I’m so happy you came!” Louis could see his sister smiling and there was no way he wouldn’t smile at the scene too.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Harry let go of the girl, smiling down at her, “here, I have something for you!” He handed her the pink package, making Lottie’s eyes pop. He then bent down a little to speak in her ear. “If you open it now, all the others will see are glitter pens, but when you open it alone in your room, you will find my magical quills with glitter ink…”

“No, you didn’t!” Lottie almost screamed, “I can’t believe you did it, Harry… did you finally… does it work properly?” She was so excited Harry could barely keep himself from smiling even bigger at her. He knew she would love those, after both of them spending so much time talking about and working on them.

Louis could see the excitement in her eyes and the need to open the package in her hands as she kept turning it around, examining it.

“Yep, Gemma helped me a lot with those this past month! I thought it would be a perfect 13th birthday gift for you! So if you want to open it now, no problem, but I’d wait until everybody’s gone to test them!” Harry winked at her.

“What are you giving to my sister, Styles? Is it illegal? Dangerous? You don’t fool me with this pink package and this innocent face, Mr. Perfect,” Louis approached them, with a mocking smile.

“What? No!” Harry looked alarmed at Louis, but he wouldn’t deny he already felt his cheeks flush only by hearing Louis call him perfect again.

“Louis, please!” Lottie rolled her eyes and both boys laughed. “It’s quills with glitter ink!” She whispered to them. “I’ll try to show Danny and the girls if the others are not around! They have to see it, they’ll be so jealous!” She simply turned around, walking back to where she had come from.

“Well, it seems that your gift is more important than your presence. You’re only useful to her once you keep bringing her your magical quills,” Louis teased Harry, pulling a curl from his hair, nonchalantly.

Harry scrunched up his nose, trying to suppress a smile. If he was going to spend so much time with the boy that day, he would have to find ways to control himself and not seem like the fool with a huge crush that he was.

“Harry, come here!” Lottie’s voice caught them again, coming from the kitchen. “The girls are waiting to meet you!”

“Let’s go, Curls, this way,” Louis put one hand on Harry’s shoulder, guiding him to walk to the kitchen.

The crowded kitchen was intimidating, with all those women looking expectantly at them. He couldn't blame Harry when he felt the boy tense up beside him.

“Harry, darling!” Jay called, walking towards them and embracing Harry in a hug.

“Hello, Jay,” Harry greeted her shyly, as she caught him a little bit off guard.

“How are you, love?” She kissed him on his cheeks twice.

“Is he Louis’ boyfriend?” Louis heard Martha ask beside Lottie and all he wanted was to hide somewhere when he noticed Harry turning his head in his direction. He probably heard that question too, fuck.

“I’m actually fine, thanks,” Harry answered Jay, chuckling, because what else was he supposed to do about that girl’s question? Looking at Louis, he noticed how red the boy beside him was and he probably was in the same state too.

“No! He’s my friend from school!” Lottie giggled, which made Danny, Skye and Courtney giggle along.

“He’s too old to be your friend, Lottie, and I agree with Martha, he looks more like your brother’s boyfriend,” Laura commented and if Louis wasn’t a decent person and respectful towards women and young girls, he would have punched both of Lottie’s friend in the face.

“Harry was my first friend at Ho–hm, school,” Lottie quickly corrected herself, “actually because of Louis, but no, at least not that I know…” she continued, talking as if both boys weren’t there to listen to their gossip time.

“Alright,” Louis clapped his hands, calling everybody’s attention in order to quickly make them stop talking. Jay pinched Harry’s cheeks one last time before stepping away, looking with a smug smile at Louis. He really wanted to disappear from there. “Don’t you have a party to get going?”

“Yeah, yeah!” Lottie laughed and turned to her old friends. “Girls, do you mind going with Fizzy and the twins outside first? I’ll just take Harry’s gift to my bedroom and I remembered I have to show something really quick to the others, alright? Danny, Court, Sky... come with me?” Lottie motioned for her witch friends to follow her and her other friends started talking happily with Fizzy and the twins, going to the back garden.

In a second, the crowded kitchen was empty again and both Harry and Louis were trying not to laugh at the weird situation that had just happened.

“What did I say? She’s only using you to show herself off,” Louis mocked him again, with a sneaky smile on his lips.

“Louis, manners!” Jay turned to him, with a serious but serene look. “Harry, do you want to eat something? There are sweets and treats outside, if you want any… The cake is still baking, it will take a while, but I’m guessing it won’t be a problem, right, you’ll stay with us?” She squeezed Harry’s arm, calling his attention back to her, because with Louis smiling like that beside him, how would be able to look anywhere else?

“I’m good so far, thanks. And yes, I’ll stay, if it’s not an inconvenience,” Harry shrugged shyly.

“Of course it won’t be, love! You can stay as long as you want. I’m sure Louis will keep you good company.” She tilted her head in Louis’ direction and seriously, his mother was the worse. “I mean, I guess it will be a little too chaotic to spend all afternoon hearing some teenage girl talk.”

Louis could hear the teasing tone in his mother’s voice and if he had more courage he would simple take Harry by the hand and take both of them away from there.

“I don’t want to be a burden, really, I’ll be fine. I guess he must have other things to do? Don’t mind me, the girls are just fine,” Harry quickly glanced at Louis and really, he came to Lottie’s birthday to have a good time with the girl, but he wouldn’t mind spending more time with Louis – if the boy was willing, of course.

“Oh, no, he doesn’t,” Jay winked at Louis, beating him in what he was about to answer Harry, “if I remember correctly, he said he will only go out with Stan after Lottie’s party is over. I’m sure he’s more than happy to keep you company until then. What kind of host would he be if he didn’t?” Jay smiled at both of them, which made the boys look at each other quickly. Louis was one step closer to simply turn around with Harry and never look his mother in the face ever again. “Louis, why don’t you show Harry around the house?”

At that, he breathed relieved and without really thinking, took Harry by the arm. “Yeah, of course, let’s go Harry,” he said, pulling Harry away from the kitchen.

Harry looked from Louis to Jay confused, only to see Jay smiling at them and murmuring a “boys”, before he finally stepped outside the kitchen.

“Sorry about my mum,” Louis said, as he finally let go of Harry’s arm when they arrived at the living room.

“No problem,” he giggled, still a little dazzled by Louis' sudden impulse to take him by the arm. “My mum would do the same, making sure that you felt at home. I mean, if you ever come to our house,” Harry fidgeted with the buttons of his blazer, trying not to sound too eager of imagining Louis visiting him at his house. “But she’s kinda right? I was nervous to come since the girls would be here and I’d be the only older friend as Niall couldn’t-”

“Oh, Niall, won’t come?” Louis asked too quickly for his own good. That was a surprise and a relief. It wasn’t that Louis didn’t like Niall per se (he still held a grudge against the boy for teaching his little sister how to jinx people), it was just, he knew how Harry and Niall were close if Lottie’s letters were anything to go by, and he didn’t know if he would be able to deal with the blond guy stealing Harry’s attention all the time.

“No, he’s still travelling. I think he told Lottie about that, didn’t she tell you?” Harry looked at Louis intrigued at his sudden – and a bit too weary – interest in Niall.

“Hm, she might have,” Louis was not trying to show how disinterested he was about Harry’s apparently best friend, but if he did, well, that was not his fault. “Anyway, that’s a pity, but not so much,” he shrugged, “because you won’t be left out. We can have our own grown up party and leave the teenagers to do their thing,” and if he sounded like he wanted to spend the whole afternoon with Harry and only Harry, completely ignoring all his earlier distress, he didn’t try to hide it.

“I was kinda hoping for that, to be honest,” Harry looked away, trying to find anywhere else to focus on other than Louis’ face. “I don’t want to impose anything, so if you want to go out with your friends instead of staying with me, I-”

“Stop that, Curly. Stan can wait. He has been a pain in my arse all summer. I’m glad to be spending time with someone else… with you. I’m all yours today,” Louis didn’t mean for that part to have a double meaning, but if it did, he wouldn’t be sorry. He smiled at Harry, who turned to look at him again, smiling with his eyes and his dimples deeper than usual. “So, house tour?”

Louis didn’t wait for Harry’s response as he took the boy by the arm again, showing him around, letting Harry observe all the “muggle” things he didn’t know about and get all excited when Louis explained what they were for. As they climbed the stairs, Lottie and the girls were coming down, almost running over them.

“Harry, the quills work just fine, thanks!” Lottie said as they passed by them.

“They are so cool! I will want some too when we go back to Hogwarts!” Danny added.

“Me too!” Courtney and Skye said at the same time and both girls laughed.

“You’re welcome and, yeah, I can make more of them. I’ll ask Gemma to help,” Harry answered, laughing to see the rush the girls were in.

“Watch your step down the stairs, geez, Lottie!” Louis said as the girls reached downstairs and they were already at the top.

“Where are you two going?” Lottie suddenly stopped, letting the girls walk to the back garden alone, looking up at them.

“Er, I’m showing Harry around the house. Someone has to be the nice host, since you’re so entertained with your friends,” Louis replied, scratching the back of his head.

“Oops, sorry Harry!” She shrugged, but Louis could notice that she wasn’t really sorry. “Just come to the back garden when you’re done, ok?” She chuckled and didn’t even wait for them to answer back, already walking away to follow her friends as Louis and Harry stood at the top of the stairs watching her go.

“Just because she’s turning 13 she thinks she can boss people around even more now,” Louis shook his head, laughing and only kept going down the hall. Harry followed behind him. “Anyway, this is Lottie and Fizzy and the twins’ room,” he pointed to a bedroom with the door completely open, which he guessed Lottie had forgotten to close in her rush to go back to her party. “Mum and d-, I mean, mum’s is all the way to the other side. Hm, sorry, it’s still weird for me, especially because I haven’t been around much all year.”

“I understand,” Harry didn’t know what else to say, as he only put a hand on Louis’ shoulder and squeezed it quickly. There wasn’t much he could do, or much he wanted and could actually do. He noticed how Louis was still a bit sad over the situation with his family and just to think about Louis being sad all over again, it made his heart hurt a little. At least he was there now and could comfort him in some way.

“Anyway,” Louis smiled slightly at Harry, who took away his hand from his shoulder. Louis wanted to reach for the boy’s hand and keep it there, but that would be too weird, even for him. “Mine is down the corridor,” he pointed, staying where he was, not sure what to do next.

“Do you miss it?” Harry asked and Louis looked confused at him. “I mean, your bedroom? Because you don’t live here anymore? It’s weird for me to go back home after spending the year at Hogwarts. It never feels like that is my actual room.”

“Oh, kinda, I guess. Well, I’ve been back home for a month now, it doesn’t really feel like I’ve left? I mean, most of my stuff is in London, so it's a little weird to see the room so empty, but there’s still some cool stuff in here… do you…” Louis was hesitant for a second before deciding that, no, fuck it, it wasn’t too weird to ask Harry to go to his room, “do you wanna take a look?”

“Yeah, ‘course,” he quickly answered, showing more confidence than he was actually feeling, hiding the train wreck that was the inside of his brain at the moment. Louis only nodded in response, smiling at him and walking down the corridor. Harry followed one step behind him, stopping when the older boy opened his bedroom door.

“Welcome to my humble abode!” Louis entered his room, stepping aside to let Harry come inside too. “Don’t mind the mess, mum told me to tidy it up a little, but, yeah…” He motioned to close the door as in muscle memory and hesitated, thinking if it would be weird to close the door with Harry inside his room. Not that his mother would mind. He always locked himself up with Stan and his others friends to play video game. He was sure she wouldn’t mind him staying there with Harry – especially with Harry. He then closed the door and watched as Harry looked around.

Harry felt as if he had entered in a complete different world. It was not just being in the muggle world, surrounded by muggle stuff: it was entering Louis’ world, surrounded by Louis’ stuff.

“Wow,” Harry managed to say, taking more steps inside the bedroom, seeing a bed close to the wall on the side, a big window with a desk in front of it, a wardrobe to the other wall, and the wall behind him, where the door was, filled with posters.

“Again, nothing so magical about it, eh?” Louis walked to his bed, sitting there, still watching Harry in awe, taking all his room, which wasn’t a big thing, in. “As I said, most of my stuff now is in London, there used to be a lot more rubbish around.”

“It’s nice,” Harry went closer to the desk, fascinated by the object that was on it. “Is this your… phone?” He looked at the device, which was lighting up.

“Oh yeah, have you seen one of these before?” Louis scooted over his bed to get closer to the desk, fetching his mobile in his hand.

“I’ve heard of it. We learned about it in our Muggle Studies class,” Harry said, sitting next to Louis, without really pondering if it was ok to do so. Louis didn’t seem to mind, as he got a little closer to the boy.

“You study about us? Damn, that’s some kind of obsession right there,” Louis joked, unlocking his phone to see an annoying amount of text messages in it. “God, Liam is another pain in the arse too.”

“Liam?” Harry asked as if the name didn’t ring a bell to him. Of course he remembered Liam.

“Remember my roommate? The one who said Marcel wasn’t a good name for an owl?” Louis laughed as he started typing on his phone.

“Oh, that’s true. I have to disagree with him, though, Marcel is a very good name for an owl, thank you very much,” Harry answered back, a little defensive.

“Of course it is, Curls,” Louis shook his head. “Liam knows shit about owls. So do I, but between you and me, we both know Marcel is worthy of his name. Talking about him, how’s the little fella?” Louis kept on typing, and now he regretted it because Liam was online and was going to keep talking to him when all he wanted was to give Harry all his attention.

“He’s good, but I feel like he’s mad at me because I’m here. I mean, he always gets extra happy to, hm, come here,” Harry corrected himself, before giving himself (and Marcel) away by saying ’to see you’. “And when I left home, he barely looked at me,” he tried to sneakily look at what Louis was doing on his phone, but Louis was so fast with his fingers, it was kinda hard to see what was happening there.

“Him? Ignoring people? Has he been hanging out with Ruth lately?” Louis laughed a bit, starting to get angry at Liam because he wouldn’t shut up about his own damn birthday party that wasn’t even going to happen in less than 3 weeks (“ _It’s a birthday party, not the royal wedding, Leeyam!!!_ ”).

“That one has a strong personality, yeah. Nobody is like Ruth, though, that bird scares me too… what are you doing?” Harry was now just too curious to know why Louis wouldn’t look up at him and talk properly. He couldn’t help himself.

“Oh, sorry!” Louis quickly blocked his phone and tossed it back at the desk. “Liam was being annoying, as usual.”

“How’s that?” Harry asked, curiously.

“He kept texting me about things he wants to do for his birthday party. He didn’t know if he wanted it to be Batman or Iron Man themed, as if there was any other option than Iron Man, really. And he simply answered with two different photos of him wearing the costumes-”

“You were talking to him? On that thing?” Harry darted his gaze back to the device on the table.

“Honestly, Styles, from the things that are important about what I just said, you only got the part that I was talking to him?” Louis teased.

“But you were talking without speaking...” Harry was alarmed now. How was Louis talking in real time with his roommate like that? He knew muggles could talk to each other through the phone, but not like that.

“Alright, Harold,” Louis said and Harry looked back at him because, what, what did Louis just call him? “I understand that if I found owls a weird means of communication at first, you will find texting weird too. Yeah, I was talking to him, it’s like, instant owl mail? With no owl? If you think about it, you shouldn’t be so freaked out because it should look like magic to you.”

Louis explained and Harry was still trying to understand how that thing worked. Muggles really tried to make things work as if they were magical.

“We use some instant methods of communication too, but, this… yeah, it’s a bit weird, but genius in some way? It’s just, I’ve never seen a phone so close and I thought you used it only to call and talk to people.” Harry wanted to take a better look at the device, to understand it, to inspect it to see if it wasn’t really something that used magic.

“Oh my young and sweet wizard Harry,” Louis fetched the mobile again. “You have no idea what this small thing can do.”

Louis started showing Harry all the gadgets inside his phone, the apps, the games, the camera, the photos. Showing him some pictures of him on campus, mostly with Liam, Harry had noticed. [One of the photos](http://i.skyrock.net/3167/81853167/pics/3069802801_1_5_1QYi4EBr.jpg), there was Louis and Liam, Liam with an arm around Louis’ shoulder while Louis held a ball that looked like a Quaffle. [ The other](https://68.media.tumblr.com/439bbce3d0561210e9f71f7adbc27214/tumblr_okcwrueBTo1vnwncjo2_500.jpg), it was of Louis and Liam in a piano, Liam sat down trying to play it and Louis kinda hovering over him (“ _For someone who is studying music, Liam should be better than me at the piano, but…_ ”). [ The last one](https://68.media.tumblr.com/06121b5e8805fd7df87b07a81b106ed1/tumblr_okcwrueBTo1vnwncjo1_400.jpg) Harry saw, it seemed to be a little bit older than the others; Louis was wearing his glasses (which he wasn’t in the previous photos) and both Liam’s and Louis’ hair looked a bit longer. Liam seemed to be laughing, or screaming – Harry couldn’t know as the photo didn’t move – carrying a luggage, while Louis had his arm around his shoulder and seemed to be pitching the other boy’s nipple through his shirt. Harry tried to ignore how close Louis and Liam seemed to be through the photos. It wasn’t his place to keep imaging if the two of them were more than friends.

“This was one of the first photos I took with Liam, it’s so funny that even a year after it, I still keep it on my phone,” Louis said, laughing nostalgically.

“You stopped wearing glasses?” Harry tried to shift the attention away from Liam, interested on why Louis hadn’t been wearing his glasses in the most recent photos and even at that moment.

“Oh, no,” Louis put his phone on the bed and turned to his desk again, extending his arm to get his old pair of glasses. “I still wear them, just for reading,” he put them on his face, smiling at Harry. And really, Harry didn’t know what was better: Louis with or without glasses, blue eyes looking at him with no idea about the effect he had on the wizard.

“Can I put them on?” Harry asked suddenly, already reaching his arm to Louis. The older boy only laughed and murmured a “‘course” before taking them off and handing it so Harry could put them on.

“Wow, this is…”

“Don’t tell me you don’t have glasses for wizards,” Louis looked amused by Harry’s awe in wearing the glasses, and also by the sight of how cute he looked with them on.

“We do! I just never needed to use them. It’s just funny to put them on, because there’s this really famous wizard named Harry Potter who wears round glasses and has green eyes, so people always say that if only I wore glasses I’d be just like him.” Harry shook his head laughing, remembering how many times Niall mocked him, calling him SlytherPotter instead of Styles.

“Did your mum name you after him?” Louis asked curiously.

“Yep,” Harry answered, a little bit embarrassed.

“Well, I bet she wanted you to be just as famous as him then,” Louis innocently patted Harry’s thigh in a playful way, making Harry self-conscious of his actions and how close they were.

“I doubt that, there’s no way it could happen,” he tried to say, calmly.

“Why not? C’mon, Harold, don’t sell yourself so short! I bet this other Harry didn’t even deserve to be famous! What did he do? Rode on a dragon’s back? Saved King Arthur? You’re destined to be a greater wizard than he is, I can feel it.” Louis was blatantly giving Harry compliments, trying to show him how high he already thought of him.

“Well, he only defeated the most powerful Dark Lord that ever existed and saved us all. No biggie, I can easily top that any day,” Harry laughed, throwing his head behind. Louis almost forgot how to breathe at the scene, at how beautiful Harry was laughing like that, wearing his glasses.

“Shit, yeah… not even _me_ can top that, and I can top anything,” Louis joked, “anyway, even if you can’t save the Wizarding World like he did, at least you look cute with the glasses. Looking properly like _Mr. Perfect_ ,” Louis teased and he didn’t know if he had gone too far, because Harry simply stopped laughing and looked at him, with his eyes a little bit wide.

“Thanks,” he replied shyly, flushing a bit. Bloody hell, he had to control how he felt around Louis. Just because he had just casually, probably, maybe complimented him (and also flirted), it didn’t mean Harry had to give himself away like that. He took off Louis’ glasses and handed them back to him.

Louis suddenly felt self-aware of being a little too much forward and put his glasses back on his desk, as he cleared his throat and fetched his phone again, asking Harry if he wanted to see more things he had in there.

Louis ended up showing Harry his music library, going from classics as Pink Floyd and The Police ( _“Why does he says that every little thing she does is magic? Is she a wizard?” “What? No, Harold, it’s just that everything the girl does is special, is unique.” “Oh you think wizards are special?” “Well, I personally think so.”_ ) to some more modern band as Nickelback and The Fray ( _“I posted a video of me singing “Look After You” a couple of years ago on Youtube, please don’t look it up.” “What’s Youtube?” “I’m so glad you have no fucking clue what I’m talking about.”)._

Their musical conversation was only interrupted by several messages that kept popping up on Louis’ phone, which Harry couldn’t ignore from whom they were.

“Goddamn it, Liam is such a needy person, hold on Harry,” Louis rolled his eyes as he opened the text messages and started replying to his roommate, again. “I don’t get how he survived 18 years of his life without me, because he clearly can’t go to the bathroom without telling me. Sometimes I worry how much he loves me,” Louis vented, as he typed up on his phone.

Harry bit his bottom lip, not knowing how to deal with what Louis had just said. Alright, if the photos were already making him think that Louis and Liam could have been something more than friends, Louis certainly saying that Liam loved him was making Harry more sure about it and he blamed his incapacity of thinking straight when he was near Louis for what he said next.

“Is Liam your boyfriend?

“What?!” Louis abruptly looked up from his phone to Harry again. Eyes wide open, not knowing what to say and what to think as why Harry would ask him that.

Harry was sure that if he concentrated real hard, he could magically dig a hole in the ground for himself to hide. He didn’t mean to ask that; maybe Louis wasn’t into Liam, or even into boys, he thought as he saw the way Louis was looking at him. He had screwed up, big time.

“Oh my, no, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry if I offended you, it’s just– you two seem so close and you said he loved…?” Harry babbled and suddenly Louis was laughing, confusing Harry even more than before.

“God, no! You didn’t offend me, at all,” Louis tried to make a point, “I mean, I feel offended that you thought I would date Liam, of all people, ew,” he laughed, “but no, it’s no offense as I, in fact, am–”

“You like boys?” Harry beat him with the question, too eager to understand what was going on (and to find out for once and for all if he had a chance).

“Yeah,” Louis laughed relieved. “And I have a lot to blame on that mate over there for that,” he pointed to one of the posters on the wall opposite to them. He got up and got closer to one, standing right in front of it. “I present you Sir David Beckham, also known as the reason why I figured out I am gay.” Louis said so nonchalantly, as he was practically exhibiting the poster to Harry.

“Who?” Harry asked a little uncertain, waving at the poster timidly before remembering it was muggle. Louis was basically worshipping the man that was plastered on the wall.

“He, young Harold, is only the most beautiful and probably one of the best players England has had in a long time, my idol from Manchester United. After seeing him playing, there was no turning back. Just look at him? He is a God, isn’t he?” Louis looked at the poster with enamoured doe eyes.

Harry was still looking a little baffled at Louis, not understanding what all the fuss about this David Beck _something_ was.

Louis looked back at Harry to see how puzzled his expression was and maybe, maybe he was exaggerating, being too much of a fanboy, a little too gay in front of Harry, when he didn’t know if Harry also…

“I mean, you don’t have to agree with me, obviously, I don’t even know if you like boys as well,” Louis laughed a bit self-deprecating, unsure if Harry was just being polite or if there was more to it. Not everyone asked "Is Liam your boyfriend?" just because, he'd come to learn.

“Yes, I do,” Harry simply answered without dwelling and Louis blinked twice trying to register that.

Ok. Harry was gay too. Alright. That was….

“Good,” Louis voiced his thoughts without even filtering it first and quickly tried to fix what he said, as he saw Harry open a little sneaky smile. “I mean, good, at least this is not awkward.” He cleared his throat, going back to the bed to sit next to Harry.

“It isn’t awkward, it’s just funny to see you gushing over him like that,” Harry chuckled, happy to see a Louis besides through some stories and letters. He seemed more real.

“Honestly, Harry, how can you not gush over him? He’s so… Is he not your type?” Louis asked, gesturing again to the poster, a little afraid to know the answer to that.

“Er, I don’t think so,” Harry looked back at it, just to take another quick look at the man on the wall before he turned back at Louis again. Nope, not his type at all.

“What’s your type then?” Louis stopped to think for a second before he continued his question, because suddenly an image came to his mind, an image of a loud and probably obnoxious blond Irish boy smacking a kiss on Harry’s cheek at King’s Cross station. “Blond? Irish?” If Louis let the acid tone of his voice show that he was just a tiny bit jealous of Niall and the possibility of him and Harry being more than friends, he didn’t care.

“What?” Now was Harry’s time to look at Louis with eyes wide open because, what? What was he even suggesting? Did he… was he implying that he and… no, oh Merlin, no. “No! That’s best friend material, not- Bloody hell, no. I mean, I don’t have a type, I guess?” Harry tried to sound as put as he could, not trying to scream “ _YOU ARE MY TYPE!_ ” right at Louis’ face. “Just someone who is nice and fun I guess, someone who I can get along with, who it doesn’t feel like putting too much effort to be around.”

Harry was trying to think about how he felt about Louis, how he felt about being around Louis and that was it; right now, he only felt comfortable around the older boy, he felt like he could just stay sat at Louis’ bedroom with him, talking about nothing for eternity and that wouldn’t be weird. Louis was comfortable to be around, Louis made him laugh, Louis was cute, witty, sincere and real. Louis was real and in front of him and if Harry thought he had any chance of suppressing his crush on him, well, now he was certainly doomed.

Louis noticed how deep Harry was speaking, as if those qualities, those traits, not looks, not how the person was on the outside, was what really mattered and that was just so pure, so non-judgemental. It really showed how good of a person Harry was and it made Louis heart fill up with fondness for the boy. But also, that was a little too vague, in Louis’ opinion. He needed something more concrete from the boy, some confirmation that he was at least close to being Harry’s type, just to fill up his ego a little bit.

“That’s beautiful, Harry,” he tried to joke, but at the same time, not dismiss Harry’s opinion, “I mean, yeah, those are really good things for someone to have, but… Just look at David’s legs, his calves? Wouldn’t you want that in someone too?”

Harry shook his head laughing because really, Louis was just a fanboy, apparently.

“Nice legs, indeed, can’t deny that. You said he was a player?” Harry tried to change the subject, because if Louis kept asking him about what his type was, he was probably going to declare all his love for the older boy in front of him.

“Don’t tell me you don’t….” Louis gasped, putting all his dramatic skills in practice as he put his hand over his chest. “You don’t know what football is?”

“Oh, he plays football?” Harry finally understood the fuss Louis was making about it then. “I know what football is. We don’t play it, that’s why I was a little lost. I know football is quite big among muggles.”

“Quite big? Please, H,” Louis rolled his eyes, but quickly looked at Harry again, a little stunned. “Wait, you said you don’t play footie?”

Harry shook his head no and Louis again put all his years of drama training into action. “OH MY GOD, HAROLD, YOU DISHONORED ME LIKE THIS!”

Harry laughed again, this time out loud, making Louis laugh too at how genuine the younger’s laughter was. If Louis could, he would keep Harry’s laughter for him in a jar.

“For us, the equivalent to football would be Quidditch,” Harry commented, trying to compose himself.

“Oh, yeah, Lottie told me that, which is just the weirdest game I’ve ever heard of. How do you play it with brooms?

“Well, I don’t play it, but it’s not that hard?” Harry fidgeted with the buttons of his blazer.

“If it isn't, then why don’t you play?” Louis asked, a little confused.

“Because, as Niall says, I’m the clumsiest and most uncoordinated wizard he’s ever seen. I can do a lot of stuff, but balancing myself on a broom is definitely not one of them,” Harry laughed faintly.

“That’s why you didn’t come here with your broom?” Louis teased, and Harry looked at him, a little offended. “Kidding, I’m sorry! Well, Quidditch doesn’t need you anyway. Footie is way easier than this magical game. You could be very good at it and you don’t even know!”

“I’ve never tried, so I can’t know for sure. My legs aren’t exactly my best friends, I can’t trust them to even walk properly sometimes.”

“Alright, we’re about to change that then,” Louis got up, putting his hands on his waist and looking down at Harry. “You better take your blazer off, things are about to get heated.”

Harry looked alarmed at Louis’ request, because, what?

“I’m sorry, that came out wrong,” Louis laughed faintly as he realized what he had said. “Let’s go downstairs. I’ll teach you how to play footie then. It’s hot out so there will be a lot of sweat involved and that blazer of yours will be no help.” Louis gestured to Harry’s clothing.

At that, Harry’s green eyes glowed as he nodded excitedly. He was pretty sure he was going to be an uncoordinated mess, but just the thought of him playing with Louis was enough to make him be excited to try it, even if he embarrassed himself.

Louis smiled, nodded at Harry and walked to his wardrobe opening it and crouching down. “I never let the girls play with my good balls because they always screw them up, so I keep them all here...”

As Louis fumbled around his wardrobe, Harry got up from the bed, doing as Louis had told him so, taking off his blazer and hanging it on the backrest of Louis’ desk chair. He inspected the desk again, noticing that beside where Louis had placed his glasses, there was another pair of glasses with dark lenses. He took them in his hands, examining it.

“... the balls we have on the back garden are all flat and stuff, so when the girls play, they don’t get hurt, but this baby here,” Louis continued, as he came out of the wardrobe with a white and black ball in his hand. He then saw Harry, looking attentively at his sunglasses. “Is there something wrong?”

“What are these? They are not like your normal glasses, are they?” Harry asked innocently and Louis could not be more endeared by that.

“These,” he said, approaching Harry, putting the ball on his bed, and taking the glasses in his hand, “are sunglasses,” Louis put his aviators on, smiling at the curly boy in front of him.

At the sight Harry almost gasped because, really, if Louis with his glasses was already something, with these sunglasses it was definitely _something else_.

“Come on, put them on,” Louis quickly took his shades off, handing them to Harry.

“Why? Is not even sunny inside here, that’s why they are called sunglasses, right?” Harry eyed the pair in his hands curiously, looking from them to Louis, who only quirked a brow at Harry.

“Come on, Haz,” the nickname slipped out of Louis' tongue and Harry barely acknowledged how his lips turned into a small smile at that, “just put them on. It’s no different from my normal glasses, and those you almost begged me to put them,” Louis insisted, batting his eyelashes as he looked at Harry.

“Ok, fine,” Harry sighed, defeated, because how could he resist those blue eyes looking at him so sweetly?

As he put them on, he saw Louis' lips open in a big smile and he couldn’t help himself but smile too, even though he didn’t know what he was smiling at.

“Now you look even more _perfect_ ,” Louis quipped, which made Harry feel his cheeks getting warm. He was about to take the glasses off to put them back on the table, when Louis held his arm by the wrist, lowering them down slowly.

“No, keep them on. We’re going outside, better use them,” Louis smiled once again and he knew that was a lame excuse to keep Harry with those glasses, because not even he usually wore sunglasses just because it was too sunny, but he hoped that excuse had worked so he could see Harry (beautiful and stunning Harry) wearing his sunglasses.

“What about you?” Harry asked, motioning to Louis’ eyes and oh, yeah, Harry was also clever enough.

“I have another one,” Louis quickly moved to open one of the drawers in his desk, fetching an almost identical pair of aviators and putting them on. “Let’s go, Harold, let’s make you a footie expert.” He took the ball back in his arm and with his other free hand, took Harry by the wrist again and led him outside his bedroom.

As they were walking down the stairs, Lottie and her friends appeared, running once again in their opposite direction.

“Where are you going now?” Louis asked, stopping in front of Harry, to let the girls pass by them. Lottie was already on the top of the stairs, only looking at them.

“The girls want to do their nails! Where are you two going? I thought I told you to meet us a while ago! You were upstairs forever!” She asked eyeing them with a knowing smile on her face.

“Harry doesn’t know how to play footie, so I’m gonna to teach him,” Louis showed her the ball in his hand.

The girl only laughed. “Well, if he can be half as good as he is in Qui– I mean, in any sport, then good luck!” She looked back at Danny, Courtney and Skye and the girls laughed with her.

“Heeeeey!” Harry protested, only slightly offended. He knew he had a bad reputation with sports. Apparently, every witch and wizard also knew that.

“Anyway, we’re gonna do our nails because the girls want to use some of the new glitter nail polish I got!” Lottie started to walk away, motioning for her friends to keep moving towards her room. “We’ll go downstairs after. Stop running away from me, Harry!” She winked at him and ran to meet her friends at her bedroom.

“Did she say glitter nail polish?” Harry turned to face Louis, excitement all over his face.

“What’s up with you and glitter, Curly?” Louis teased, only pulling Harry by the arm again, leading him downstairs and towards the back garden.

The place was set with the Tomlinson’s picnic table with a floral tablecloth covered with plates full of sweets, cupcakes, lollies and the likes. There were pink, blue and also golden balloons all over the place too. Even though the party arrangement took most part of their back garden, there was still a free space where Louis thought he could play something with Harry, heading there as the other boy followed him, not minding how Louis had grabbed his arm and still hadn’t let go.

“Alright,” Louis dropped his ball on the ground and finally let go of Harry, as he stepped on the ball. He put his hands on his own waist, looking at the younger boy in front of him, staring at him with big green and expectant eyes. “See, there’s no big secret or any sort of magical trick in playing footie: you just kick the ball. I’m gonna stay here,” Louis took a few steps back, giving himself some distance from Harry, “and you are gonna pass it to me, ok? You just need to kick the ball. Easy, innit? But mind my actual balls, fuck’s sake. Do it gently.” He joked, getting in position so he could get the ball once Harry passed it.

“Well, it does look easy,” Harry answered, getting closer to the ball hesitantly, “it just doesn’t mean my legs will cooperate,” he laughed, humourlessly.

“C’mon, even my Nan can do it,” he joked and Harry only shook his head, clapping his hand over his mouth to contain his laughter.

“I promise I’ll try not to kick the ball in your balls, though,” Harry managed to joke back, giving the slightest kick in the ball in front of him, which didn’t even move a good inch.

“You gotta at least try to kick it a little bit harder, Harold! You know, the ball has to move, really move, not magically,” Louis winked at him.

Harry nodded and closed his eyes, trying to focus. Ok, this didn’t look difficult. He just needed to kick. There was nothing complicated about that.

“If you want,” he heard Louis’ voice speak again, “you can take a couple of steps back so you can have a little impulse when you kick it, alright?” Harry kept his eyes closed as he followed Louis’ instructions.

He took a deep breath and opened them, looking from Louis, who had a big smile on his face and his two thumbs up encouraging him, to the ball in front of him. He walked the distance he had taken from the ball and focused on hitting it with his leg the moment he reached it again, but as he moved his leg, he knew that was not going to happen.

Louis saw what happened though. He saw Harry raising his leg a little to hit the ball. He was certain he was going to, but in the next second, Harry’s feet hit the top of the ball, which made him slip on it, and actually fall on his bum, with the ball rolling under him.

Louis didn’t know if he should laugh, cry, stay still where he was or go up to Harry and help him. The scene was completely hilarious though, Harry on his back on the floor, eyes closed, shaking his head and laughing.

“Please, don’t,” Harry said as he heard Louis laughing too, opening his eyes to see the boy moving in his direction.

“Christ, Harry, what was so hard about hitting the ball on the first try?” Louis got closer to him, extending his hand so Harry could grab it and pull himself up.

Harry accepted Louis’ hand and got to a sitting position, eyeing the ball beside him suspiciously. “Are you sure nobody jinxed this ball?”

“Well, I sure as hell didn’t,” Louis shook his head, still laughing. “Who knows if the girls did it…”

Harry sighed, knowing the girls couldn’t have done it, as they were prohibited to use magic outside Hogwarts yet. The ball wasn’t jinxed, that was a fact. The truth was that Harry was just incredibly terrible at any sort of sport, be they wizard or muggle.

“I can’t believe I fell down like that, that’s so embarrassing.” Harry closed his eyes, cleaning his trousers from the dirt of the grass.

“I didn’t know you would be this terrible, Curly. That’s a special talent, to be this clumsy! You looked like little Bambi when he first learned how to walk,” Louis joked, walking around Harry to get the ball to his feet again.

“Bambi?” Harry questioned, intrigued.

“Bambi, the cartoon from Disney… the little fawn?” Louis replied a little shocked. Well, it was possible that Harry didn’t know about Disney, as there were many muggle things he didn’t know about, and that was really weird. It seemed like Louis held some bit of hidden magic on his world as well.

“Oh,” Harry remembered Lottie talking about these cartoon things she used to watch, but he never knew what they were. “Well, I have never seen this Bambi, but I guess it actually fits me, since my Patronus is a fawn. Niall has always joked about how my Patronus was the spitting image of me, with my lanky legs and all.” He giggled and tapped his shoes together before getting up.

Louis wanted to roll his eyes at the mention of the other boy’s name, but stopped himself from doing so, too caught up on the fact that Harry’s Patronus was a baby deer. “Well, I will have to agree with Niall in this one, a fawn fits you perfectly. They do grow up to be beautiful stags, so yours can be one too one day.”

“Well, that’s not how Patronus work, they don’t change forms unless, you, er, you experience a very strong feeling,” Harry tried not to spill how love was what changed one’s Patronus form, “and, well, I accepted mine as a fawn. It’s not lame, he’s pretty nice.” Harry shrugged.

“I bet it is. Don’t listen to that friend of yours, a fawn is a pretty cute and awesome animal, just like you,” Louis got a little bit closer to Harry, touching his curls slightly, not feeling too shy or embarrassed. He saw Harry’s cheek flush and the boy look down to his own feet, kicking the ball that was close to Louis’. “Well, how about we try it again? Third time’s the charm,” Louis cleared his throat and got the ball to his feet again.

Harry was just a tiny bit more coordinated this time, but still sometimes missing completely the direction of Louis’ feet. They moved on after to making Harry try to kick the ball once again into a makeshift goal from small sticks.

“You were able to at least make the ball pass really close to one of the sticks when earlier today you couldn’t even hit the ball right, so I think we can consider this as a progress,” Louis said as he sat on the grass, “plus, no falling on your bum this time around.”

“Yeah,” Harry was trying to catch his breath, a little tired from the practice with Louis. “I’m glad sports aren’t my thing.” He mumbled as he sat beside Louis.

“Hopeless the way that you are, Harold, you’d better stick to your books,” Louis mocked, as he patted Harry on the thigh once again that day. Harry inhaled sharply, trying not to let the small contact affect him. There were a few other times when Louis had mindlessly touched Harry, on the arm or on the leg trying to guide him where to direct his moves, or even patting his head or pulling his curls. Harry didn’t mind though, although he wasn’t quite sure if he could interpret them as if Louis hoped for something to happen between them as well.

“That’s what I intend to do,” Harry laughed slightly, looking up at the sky, the sun shining bright above them. It was such a beautiful, perfect day, and he got to spend it with the boy he had been dreaming about for quite some time now. Life was good - even though a bit embarrassing.

He looked back down to find Louis looking at him, which made the other boy quickly turn to his phone in his hand, trying to hide the way he was gulping dryly.

Louis didn’t mean to look at Harry that way, so intensively as he observed the boy look up at the sky. It was just that Harry was there, right beside him, looking as beautiful as Louis had always imagined him and all he wanted was for that moment to never go away; he wanted to keep that moment in his mind forever even if he never had the chance to tell Harry his interests. At that, looking at his phone, an idea popped in his mind.

“Do you…” He started to say, a little hesitantly, calling Harry’s attention, who looked at him promptly, “mind if we take a picture? I mean, Lottie asked me to take a lot of pictures from the party, but I guess I have kinda neglected it, so I thought we could start with one of us?” He was clearly making that up, but he didn’t mind if it was a shit excuse to have a picture of him and Harry together.

He saw a big smile open on the curly boy’s face. He couldn’t see his eyes through the dark lens of his aviators, but he could imagine he was smiling too. “‘Course,” Harry replied, almost chirpily.

“Cool!” Louis exclaimed, as he opened his phone and quickly went to the camera.

“Can I?” Harry asked suddenly, too eager. Louis looked at him, a little surprised. “It’s just… I love taking pictures, you know.”

“Oh, I would never have guessed, what with the hundred photos you have sent me these past couple of years,” Louis joked and he saw Harry’s cheeks getting even more flushed than they already were from the heat and sweat. “I’m kidding. ‘Course you can!” He then handed his phone to Harry, who took it in his hands, a bit too carefully, examining it.

“How do I do it? I’ve never taken a muggle photo before, you know,” he said, a little uncertain of what to do as he could see the grass of the backyard in front of him through the screen of the phone.

“You just have to press this button here,” Louis pointed to a circle on the screen, “but then you’d be taking a photo of what’s in front of you. To take a picture of us, we need to switch to the front camera,” Louis quickly pressed a small button on the corner of the screen and suddenly Harry could see his face appearing in it.

“Wow, this looks like a mirror!” The excitement in Harry’s voice was so contagious; Louis moved closer to include himself in the small screen of his phone.

“It’s very useful when we want to check if there’s something on our faces,” Louis laughed, “now, just extend your hand a little to the front, so you can get a better angle from both of us, and click on the round button,” Louis moved even closer to Harry, staying a little bit behind him.

Harry adjusted his arm with the phone in front of them and looked at the screen to see that both he and Louis were in the frame. “Ready?” He asked Louis and the older boy only nodded and opened a small but sweet smile. Harry smiled too and tried his best to press the button on the screen without messing something up. He clicked on it, only seeing the screen darken for not even a second, and then there were he and Louis staring at themselves again.

“Did it work?” He looked confused at Louis.

“Yep,” Louis laughed and took the phone from his hand to check the photo.

“That was so quick? My camera does this big loud noise and a bright light comes from it, it’s a bit disturbing actually.”

“With all the magic you guys have, I find it very weird that you haven’t invented something a little more practical,” Louis commented, “here, look,” he turned the phone back to Harry, to show him [the photo](https://68.media.tumblr.com/cec30bb472cafc8544ebff271375795f/tumblr_okcwfts7sL1vnwncjo1_1280.jpg).

“It’s done? We can see it right away?” Harry was too excited to actually look at the photo properly, so Louis only nodded, murmuring a “yeah, Harold”, and nudged Harry’s dimple to bring his attention back to the photo. It seemed to work, bringing Harry’s attention back to the moment between the two of them: the soft caress of Louis’ finger on his cheek and the stunning photo they took together, with both real and photo Louis glowing beside him.

“Not to brag, but, damn, Styles, we look cute,” Louis said and Harry looked up from the photo to him, the boy still looking at it. Harry couldn’t help how he was getting close to Louis’ face without even meaning to. His body was not following his internal screams of “back off now!” as he feared Louis would notice how close he was to him.

Louis felt that Harry was suddenly quiet, not commenting on the photo, and looked up from his phone to check on him, and as he did he was almost taken aback by how close Harry’s face was to his. He could see how his breathing seemed a bit uneven and all Louis could do was stare from Harry’s eyes covered by the sunglasses to his mouth, his soft lips parted a little (so inviting). He was glad his aviators covered his own eyes otherwise if the other boy saw them, he would be able to see every thought he’d come up with for these couple years - and especially the last hour.

Louis pondered if it would be ok for him to close the distance between him and Harry, because from his side, he knew that was what he wanted; he wanted it so bad he felt his heart clutch against his chest. And as he saw Harry fix his posture and move his torso close to him, he almost stopped breathing at the thought of Harry wanting to kiss him too. He blinked once behind his shades, licking his lips before deciding that he was about to kiss Harry Styles.

“Louis! Harry!” They heard Lottie’s voice call and Harry almost froze, finally his mind catching up with his body’s action and stopping him from doing something abruptly. He turned his face to look at the backdoor from where Lottie was coming, followed by her friends.

He didn’t know if he felt relieved or pissed because of the interruption. For a minute, Harry had simply lost the ability to think, his body acting as if it was independent from him and doing what his mind was trying to control himself from doing so. He wanted it and for a moment it seemed like Louis did too. Now, as he got back in a sitting position, he couldn’t be sure if it had been real or just a fluke.

“Hey, did you finish your beauty parlour time?” Louis turned around too, too quick for his own good, breaking away from the moment completely.

“Yes, we got all the girls to do their nails. They all loved the glitter nail polish Angie gave me, look!” Lottie got to them, showing her hands to the boys excitedly.

Harry saw her nails in a bright pink covered with some kind of blueish glitter and his eyes sparkled. “It’s so beautiful,” he voiced, almost unable to.

“You like it?” Lottie asked him, jiggling her fingers in front of him. “We could paint yours too!” She yelped. “Girls, what do you think about painting Harry’s nails?”

The twins were the first to get to them, jumping around them. “Yes, Harry, please!” They said in unison.

“I… I don’t know?” Harry was unsure of what to do. He really loved Lottie’s nails, and yes, he had a thing for glitter, who was he to fool himself, but to paint his own nails… it wasn’t that he wasn’t comfortable with doing it, it was that he just had never done nor considered actually doing so.

“C’mon, H,” Louis’ voice called his attention and he looked at Louis for the first time after the close contact a few moments ago. “They used to paint mine all the time before, it will be fun!” Louis encouraged him, noticing how Harry seemed eager to do it.

“Well, I guess I could then.” He smiled up timidly at the girls, who clapped their hands and started making grabby hands at him to help him stand up. He got their hands and stood up laughing. He saw Louis beside him get to his feet too.

“Whatever you’re about to do now, it can wait,” Jay’s voice came from the back door, walking outside, “because we’re gonna sing Happy Birthday now, the cake is ready!” She was bringing the cake, a big rectangular cake, covered with pink icing, in a tray. She placed it in the middle of the picnic table, already fetching two candles from her pocket, with the numbers 1 and 3, and putting them on top of the cake.

“Finally!” Lottie exclaimed, moving closer to the table and motioning her friends and sisters to get closer too. “We’ll paint your nails after we eat, ok, Harry?” She turned to him, smiling a little too smugly.

Harry only nodded and moved closer to the table as Louis did too.

“Lou, please, take some pictures of the girls around the table, will you?” Jay smiled at him, as she lit the candles with a lighter.

“Yeah, yeah,” he took his phone from his pocket once again, but turned to give it to Harry, who was a little in shock with the gesture. “Why don’t you take them, Harry?” Louis smiled as the younger boy took the phone, a bit apprehensively. “Actually, why don’t you film it?”

“Film?” If Harry was apprehensive before, now he was confused.

“Yes, like,” Louis pulled him a few steps away from the table, getting closer to him to speak lowly so the girls around them couldn’t hear, “you know how your photos can move? Like on loop? Filming is almost like that, it’s like your photos, but you can register longer moments.”

Harry eyes popped as Louis spoke almost by his ear and at this new information.

“That’s wicked!” He only managed to say as Louis giggled beside him.

“Almost magical, innit?” Louis got the phone back in his hand quickly to put the camera in the video mode. “Here, just press the middle button again and it will record by itself,” he handed back the phone to Harry, who took it and raised it a little to his face level, moving it around as he clicked on the round button, starting to record everything around them.

“C’mon,” Louis said, pulling Harry by the arm again to get closer to the table. “Harry will be our camera man today,” he announced as Jay looked confused at them, but smiled at the sight of the boys getting along so well.

“Alright, I think we can start then. Let’s sing happy birthday to my beautiful girl, who just turned 13!” Jay started clapping her hands and everybody followed along, singing happy birthday.

Harry watched through the screen on the phone how excited everyone was and how happy Lottie looked, standing behind the cake, with the candlelight flickering before her.

He moved the phone around, trying to catch everyone in the video and he stopped when he got sight of Louis on the screen, right beside him, smiling so bright as he sang happy birthday to his little sister. If Harry had recorded the last notes of the song only with Louis singing, well, someone would find out that later.

Lottie blew out the candles and everyone cheered.

“Harry, dear, could you take some pictures of Lottie with the girls around the cake?” Jay asked and Harry moved closer to the table to snap the picture as Louis changed the camera to the photo mode again. He ended up taking the pictures of Lottie and her friends, of Lottie and Jay, of her and her sisters with Louis, and finally, Jay almost shoved him to take a picture with her too, taking the phone from his hand.

“Lou, love, join them for the picture,” she smiled at her son and Lottie simply grabbed him from the wrist to stay on her left as Harry stood on her right. The three of them smiled at the phone and Jay seemed content with the result of the photo as she kept smiling at it.

She handed the device back to Harry when he stepped from behind the table. Harry went back to his photo duty, photographing everything and everyone enjoying the party.

Jay went back to the table to cut the cake and distributed the pieces to everyone. Louis got one plate for himself and also one for Harry as the boy was still entertained with the photos and the phone in his hand.

“Here, have a piece. We can take more pictures later,” Louis handed him the plate with the cake, as he sat at one of the benches they had on the back garden.

Harry looked at him smiling, mindlessly pocketing Louis’ phone and accepting the piece of cake. He sat beside him and both boys started eating their cakes in silence for some minutes.

“How are you enjoying the party, Harry?” Jay approached them, handing them some pop. They both took a glass each and looked at Jay, whose eyes were so serene and also full of fondness.

“It’s great, Jay,” Harry quickly answered as he saw her smile big at him. “The cake is also delicious, your cooking is divine, almost magical!” Harry tried to be funny.

“Oh, Harry dear, thanks,” she said as she offered to take both his and Louis’ plates away as they had just finished. “The only magical thing here is you, actually,” she laughed and Harry looked at her a little confused and Louis only quirked a brow at his mom. “The girls, they can’t stop talking about you. You made quite some impression on them, even though you didn’t even spend much time with them.”

“Oh, that’s flattering,” Harry was shy now with the compliments and a little self-aware that since he got to the Tomlinson’s house, he had only spent his time with Louis. “They seem to be having fun without me, though, but I’ll be joining them later.”

“I see you’re having fun with Louis too, so that’s not really bad, right?” Jay winked at him and Harry tried to suppress a laugh as he heard Louis say a muffled “mum” as he drank his drink. “I suppose you boys won’t mind spending a little bit more time together and help with the cleaning later? After the girls finish eating?”

“Yeah, yeah, mum,” Louis rolled his eyes and Harry only nodded in agreement as Jay smiled at them again and walked away, thanking them.

They ate another slice of cake together and waited for the girls to finish, with Harry taking more photos of everybody, to go back inside to take the plates and glasses to the kitchen to do the dishes.

“You don’t have to help, you know. You’re a guest, you don’t have to. Also the girls must be waiting for you to do your nails,” Louis said as he put the pile of plates inside the sink.

“Nah, I don’t mind it. I like being helpful. Plus, they can wait a little longer,” Harry said, as he got a tea towel to dry the plates Louis was starting to wash.

They did all the plates first, Louis carefully washing them and Harry carefully drying them and placing them on the table to put on the cupboards later.

“Now, the cups, Harold,” Louis said, throwing a little bit of water at Harry as he shook his hand in front of the boy’s face. Harry laughed and turned to get some of the cups that were on the other side of the sink. When he turned back to face Louis, the older boy shook both hands in front of Harry, which made him feel a little disorientated and actually drop one of the cups on the floor.

“Oh, bloody hell, I’m sorry. I’m a mess,” Harry said as he looked down at his feet, his white Converse all covered in yellow liquid and the glass shattered around him.

“You’re terrible, really, Bambi,” Louis laughed. “Don’t worry, I’ll get the broom and a mop to clean it,” he turned around to go after the items, but Harry suddenly grabbed his arm, putting the other glasses he was still holding inside the sink.

Louis looked at him confused, as Harry simply took his wand from the inside of his trousers. “No, I can clean it,” he looked around, trying to check if anyone was around.

“What? You’re going to...” Louis gulped, as he realized what Harry was about to do. “But you can’t, wizards can’t-”

“Oh, no, I can. I’m already 17.” Harry giggled and flicked his wand down at his feet and in a second later, the floor was clean again, no sight of any shattered glass on it. The yellow liquid also gone from the floor and Harry’s shoes, the cup unbroken on top of the sink again.

“Holy shit!” Louis almost screamed and Harry giggled, seeing Louis eyes grow wider and his mouth hang open. “Holy fucking shit! I’ve never… That’s… Do it again!” Louis looked from the floor to Harry’s face, eyes shining brighter than any kid’s eyes on Christmas’ morning.

Harry considered for a second, looking around once again to see if someone was about to enter the kitchen. Of course he would do magic again for Louis as it seemed the older boy had never seen it in front of him.

Harry twisted his wand in his hand and pointed towards the tea towel on top of the sinking, making it float from there to the table.

Louis eyes bugged out even more, as if it was possible.

“Christ, this is- holy fuck!” Louis shook his head, laughing. “What else can you do? I’ve never seen Lottie do anything like that. I’m... Please, Harry, do something else.” Louis didn’t know he would be so excited to see magic like that in front of him. He had read and heard Lottie tell him about all the things she could do, that wizards could do. Even though he knew it was real, thinking about it actually happening was still farfetched for him, not having seen it with his own eyes to believe it. But now it had happened. Harry, a freaking wizard, was doing magic in front of him and Louis didn’t know what to feel - amazed, scared, excited. He just wanted Harry to keep doing it for him.

Harry was stunned by Louis’ excitement. It was like watching a first-year figure out that they could do all those things (only that Louis couldn’t). If Harry could show him a little bit more of his magic, to keep him smiling like that, he would.

He thought about what to do next for a second, but he quickly decided to swish his wand in the direction of one of the glasses he had placed in the sink. “Just watch,” he said as the glass started to transfigurate into a small swallow.

“Harry, what the-” Louis was completely dumbstruck by what he had just seen. He had seen a fucking glass in front of him become a bird, a living bird that was flapping its little wings and chirping inside his sink.

Harry giggled again and put his hand inside the sink, opening it to the bird. The animal leaped into Harry’s palm, and he pulled his hand away, showing it to Louis.

Louis took a step closer to Harry to examine the animal in his hand. “That’s a bird… you transformed a glass into a bird,” Louis whispered, looking from Harry’s hand with the bird to his face and also to the wand in the boy’s other hand.

“Yes, it’s a swallow actually,” Harry said, releasing the small bird so it could fly around the kitchen. When he brought his attention back to the boy in front of him, he saw the astonishment in Louis’ blue eyes, his hand moving cautiously to his wand.

Louis was sure he had forgotten any manners about personal space, as he got closer to Harry’s wand in complete awe. He didn’t mind if he was being rude though, too caught up in the moment he was. Magic was fascinating, and seeing Harry do it so effortlessly was even more so (especially when the boy seemed to put on a private show just for Louis). Just a small, elaborated flick of his wand, powerful hands, elongated fingers controlling the movement like he was born to do it - and he was. The wand merely an extension to his arm and his powers and. Fuck. Magic was exciting.

(And Harry extremely hot doing it).

Louis’ fingertips touched the wood of the wand, carefully, almost caressing it, feeling the texture and he wanted to feel the magic in it, he wanted to understand how that thing was able to do what Harry had just done. His fingers slipping down till they touched the warm skin of Harry’s hand, his firm grip shaking a little from the unexpected spark between their fingertips.

The moment felt heavy, both boys so close, in complete awe of the other and of the small touch of their hands. Louis didn’t give a damn that he was in the middle of his kitchen, with his mum, sisters and his sister’s friends just outside the room, with the possibility of them walking in there at any minute. In that moment it felt like the only thing that mattered was that it was only him and Harry, looking at each other trying to understand what they were feeling.

“Are you boys done with the cleaning?” Lottie’s voice once again invaded their moment and Harry jolted back, turning quickly to the bird walking on top of the sink and swishing his wand in the animal’s direction, turning it back into a glass and putting his wand back inside his jeans.

Louis blinked fast many times, as he tried to recompose himself, looking at the kitchen door as he saw Lottie coming inside the room. He cleaned his throat a bit before answering.

“Almost,” Louis scratched the back of his head, not sure what else to say because they had completely forgotten to continue with the washing.

“C’mon, what is taking you boys so long? We want to paint Harry’s nails!” She walked closer to them, grabbing Harry by the hand.

Harry didn’t know where to look, he was completely lost. He was almost sure his heart had jumped out of his chest for how fast it was beating at the close and almost too intimate contact of him and Louis and for how scared he was that Lottie almost caught them like that.

“Go on, Harold, I can finish here,” Louis cleared his voice, now finally looking at Harry again, only to see how much the other boy was blushing. He figured he was in the same state, but he wouldn’t let his sister noticed that. “Let the girls pamper you a little,” he gave Harry a crooked smile and a shrug.

“Yes, Harry, c’mon, we barely spent time together today, leave Louis to do the dishes.” She started pulling Harry by the hand, away from Louis.

Harry could do nothing but follow the girl, shrugging to Louis on his way out.

Louis tried to calm himself as he finished washing the glasses, dried them and finally put all the dishes back on their respective cupboards. He also tried to figure out what the hell it meant that he and Harry most certainly felt something in that moment; he couldn’t deny it by the way he saw Harry’s green eyes shining at him, with such intensity. He wanted to kiss Harry again right there and then; he would’ve probably, if Lottie hadn’t showed up and fuck, he was doomed.

He went to the living room where the girls were all gathered around Harry, with the boy sat against the coffee table, Lottie on his opposite side, taking care of the his hand.

“Lou, tell Harry to do both hands! You always let us do both your hands!” Daisy said from where she was sat beside Harry.

“I think one hand is enough, really,” Harry replied, turning his head to face Louis.

“Oh, for God’s sake, Harold, just do the whole thing. Embrace it,” Louis laughed as he sat on the arm of one of the couches, observing how the girls were all sprawled on the floor, attentively watching as Lottie painted Harry’s nails with some glittery green nail polish.

“What’s the fun in painting only one hand? If you want to be beautiful, you have to do both, Harreh,” Phoebe said on Harry’s other side.

“Yes, Harreh,” Louis mocked Phoebe’s tone of voice and Harry only looked at him, rolling his eyes and shaking his head, laughing, before saying “fine” and giving Lottie his other hand.

Louis kept watching as Lottie worked carefully on Harry’s nails. If he smiled a little way too fondly at the scene, he hoped to God none of the girls had noticed. Unfortunately, at this thought, he caught sight of Fizzy looking at him and he quickly tried to focus his attention at something else around the room, but it was too late. Fizzy was getting up from her spot beside Lottie and walking towards him.

“What?” Louis asked, already feeling the annoyance in his voice, as she approached him with a knowing look on her face.

“We think you and Harry look cute together,” she said so calm and nonchalantly Louis almost thought he had misunderstood what his sister had said.

He almost gasped as she kept looking at him as if she hadn’t said something so terrifying.

“I’m gonna count to 3 and if you don’t start running after that, I’m gonna tickle you so hard you will forget how to breathe,” Louis threatened her with his usual big brother voice and the girl squealed and rushed back to her place before Louis could even start counting.

He knew what she was doing and Louis hated how his sisters were all little shits to him. They had learned from the best, at least.

Lottie finished painting Harry’s nails and smiled proudly at her work, making Harry show his hands to everyone in the room, saving Louis for last.

“So?” Harry asked, a little too shy, biting the corner of his lip.

Louis looked from Harry’s nails to his face, opening a smile so wide Harry felt his cheeks flush one more time on that day.

“They look gorgeous on you, Haz,” Louis said only for Harry to hear, endearment clear in his voice and Harry could feel the butterflies in his stomach again.

“Good job, Lots,” Louis turned to talk to his sister, who only smiled bigger, “now, if you would excuse us, I have to bring Harry’s masculinity back by playing some manly video games with him,” he said and he saw Lottie rolling her eyes at him and the girls around him protest that he was no fun. He smirked at himself as he saw Lottie gather her manicure supplies and motion to the girls to follow her outside the living room.

Harry shook his head at Louis, but sat beside him. “I don’t feel less masculine because I’m wearing nail polish,” he said, trying to defend himself. He quite liked his nail painted like that, if he was being honest.

“I know,” Louis put his hand on Harry’s arm, squeezing it a little as he smiled down at him reassuringly. “I just wanted the girls to go away. I meant it, thought,” he looked again to Harry’s hands, “you look cute with those on.”

Harry smiled timidly at Louis. “Thanks,” he managed to say, as Louis kept his hand on his arm, “now if you want to play this game of yours, I wouldn’t mind.”

“Video game, Harold. Honestly, how many things will I still have to teach you today? Those muggle classes of yours need some upgrading, man, or you should start paying attention to them.” Louis got up and went to the TV set to turn on his console properly, missing Harry’s amused smirk.

Louis decided to teach Harry how to play Mario Kart, letting him select which character he would choose ( _“I’m gonna go with this green mate here.” “To match with your eyes?” “Er, no, I just like the col–” “Is it because his name is Luigi, then?” “What? No, I didn’t even–” “I’d usually go with him, you know, Louis… Luigi... but you can stay with him now, I’ll get Mario then.”_ ), instructing him how to press the right buttons to make his character's kart move and throw the crazy features on the lane ( _“Can we go on that rainbow road?” “Honestly, Harry, that’s like the death road.” “But it looks so cool!” “Yeah, yeah, you’ve got a point. Fine, the rainbow road it is, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”_ ).

Harry thought it was actually going to be easier than him playing football, because all he had to do was move his fingers on that controller thing, but when his kart kept falling off the road, bumping into other racers (Louis’ Mario more than others), slipping on the bananas Louis would shamelessly throw at him, making him lose position, he thought he would never be able to learn how to play that game ( _“I’ll never be on the front! You keep trying to mess with me! I’ll always lose like this, not fair!” “Oh, come on, Harold, of course you can be on the front too, I’ll let you on the front next race, and I’ll be on the back, how about that? We can share positions, don’t worry, I’d never let you lose like this.”_ ).

They played a few races with Louis, more times than he should, getting Harry’s controller from his hand to make Harry’s Luigi throw some mushrooms and bananas on the lane, occasionally brushing his hand with Harry’s. He didn’t mind if it looked like he was purposely finding ways to touch Harry.

(He was)

If that was making Harry more jittery and unfocused than before, he only tried to control himself to try and win the game, something easier said than done as Louis legs were practically glued to his with the way they were sat on the sofa.

As they kept playing, Harry and Louis saw Lottie’s witch friends leave the house, passing by them and telling them their goodbyes, the girls telling Harry they would see him again in September.

Louis knew this meant the party was coming to an end and that eventually Harry would have to go, but he pretended nothing was happening, as Harry didn’t seem to make any indication that he would like to go home.

Harry knew he had to leave soon, but if he could delay that as much as he could, he would. He just didn’t know that his plans to delay his departure to probably the next century would be interrupted so soon by Louis’ phone starting to ring beside him, almost giving him a heart attack with the shrill sound.

“Oh bloody hell,” Louis said, pausing the game to get the phone from the sofa, already annoyed by seeing Stan’s name on the screen. “What?” Louis spoke as soon as he unlocked the phone, not in the mood to greet his best friend at the moment.

“It would be nice if you answered my texts, mate. What the hell have you been doing for the past hour?” Stan asked on the other side of the line.

“I’m home, at Lottie’s party, I told ya,” Louis rolled his eyes.

“Well, and you told me we’d go out with the lads after it was over and it’s almost 8 pm, mate. Does this party never end?”

“Shit!” Louis had totally forgot about the time; with Harry beside him, he didn’t even bother to check it. He had promised Stan a night out with their old school friends after the party was over, and also after promising his mum to take Lottie’s friends back to their home. He still had to do that and then head out with the boys, but what he really wanted was to stay on his couch, playing Mario Kart with Harry.

Harry looked confused at him, as he wondered what he was talking about with the other boy.

“I have to take the girls back to their houses, though, so I might be a little late,” Louis sighed, running his hand on his face.

“Christ, Louis, what happened at this party for you to prefer spending your time with the teenagers than with us?” Stan laughed, mocking him. “Alright, mate, we’re gonna head to the pub without you and then you meet us there, ok?”

“Yeah, yeah, fine, see ya there, bye,” Louis rushed to hang up, not even waiting for Stan’s answer. “Sorry ‘bout that,” he turned to Harry, pocketing his phone.

“No problem,” Harry said, biting the inside if his cheeks. He knew that was his cue to leave, as much as he didn’t want to. “I guess I’ll get going. I mean, it’s already late, and everybody is leaving, so...”

Louis didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t ask Harry to stay. He couldn’t even ask Harry to go out with him and the lads. He would have to leave, one way or another.

“Lou, love, the girls are ready to go. You taking them, right? You’re leaving to go to Stan already?” Jay entered the living room, watching as both boys got up from the couch. “Harry, you leaving too?”

“Yes, it’s late already. I didn’t mean to overstay my welcome.” Harry smiled sheepishly.

“Oh, no, dear, you are more than welcome to stay as long as you want to. I know you had fun with the girls and with Louis,” she tilted her head slightly to Louis, who suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at his mother again for the millionth time that day.

“Thank you for the party, it was lovely!” Harry said, as he stepped closer to Jay, to give her a hug. The woman accepted the gesture, holding Harry tightly, in a motherly way.

“You’re welcome, darling, and we’d love for you to come visit us any other time soon, ok?” She let go of him, kissing his cheeks.

“Thank you, again,” he replied, turning back to Louis. “Louis, I have to get my blazer at your room, do you mind if I go upstairs?”

“Oh, no, go on,” Louis gestured him to the stairs, putting his other hand in his pocket. Harry only nodded and headed upstairs.

“You realize that you didn’t leave Harry’s side for a second today, right?” Jay turned to Louis, not even letting the boy take a breath after watching Harry go up the stairs.

Louis closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. “Jesus, mum…”

“I’m just saying, after today...”

“After today, Harry is going back to his magical world and I’ll go back to my ordinary world, that’s all. Today was fun, yeah, but that’s all, there’s nothing else,” Louis cut his mother off, not letting her finish her sentence.

As much as he wanted to think of that day as a step forward between him and Harry in whatever direction their relationship could go, he still feared that them being from separate worlds was something that would always be in their way. He knew what he felt for Harry wasn’t nothing, he clearly got the confirmation of it on that day. He was almost certain that Harry reciprocated the feeling at least a little, otherwise he wouldn’t have been so close to him after missed opportunities of kisses between them.

“He isn’t ‘nothing’, Louis. Harry is a special boy, and you know it,” Jay kissed Louis on the cheek, before turning to the hallway, seeing Harry coming down the stairs again with his blazer in hand. “Lottie, Harry’s going already, sweetie,” she called the girl, who came to the living room almost running.

Harry stepped in the room again, being greeted with a very excited Lottie hugging him.

“Thanks for coming, Harry! It was really lovely to have you here!” She said, as the boy hugged her back.

“My pleasure! It was a great party! And thanks for the nails,” he laughed as Lottie got on the tip of her toes to kiss him on the cheek.

“I’m definitely bringing some nail polish to Hogwarts to paint yours and Niall’s!” She whispered to him and he only laughed again at the thought of Niall letting her do his nails.

“We’d be thrilled,” he said, stepping away from her. “Thanks again, see you at King’s Cross?”

“Yeah,” she nodded enthusiastically.

“Thank you again, Harry,” Jay spoke. “Lou, would you mind taking Harry to the door?” She asked Louis and the boy only nodded, not even daring to wonder why his mother had a smug look on her face.

“Bye, Lottie. Say goodbye to the rest of girls for me too. Bye, Jay,” Harry waved, as Louis showed him the way through the hallway back to the front door.

“Bye, Harry!” Jay and Lottie said as the boys walked away. Louis in front of Harry already getting to the door, opening it and letting Harry walk past him, stepping outside.

Louis followed him, stepping down on the step that separated the house from the sidewalk, standing just by the door. “So...” He cleared his throat as Harry turned around to face him.

“It was a really lovely day,” Harry smiled shyly, feeling his cheeks blush. Not even when he was saying goodbye he could control his feelings, damn it.

“Yeah, it was, thanks for coming. Lottie really wanted you here today, even though we barely spent time with her,” Louis remarked, putting his hands in his pocket as he looked at Harry. He noticed the boy hadn’t taken his aviators from where he had tucked them on the neck of his shirt. He wouldn’t comment on that.

“I’m gonna have to make it up to her when we’re back at Hogwarts, but… I don’t regret it, though. I really loved to spend the day with you,” Harry confessed, and he didn’t know where he had found the confidence to admit that to Louis, his palms sweating, his mouth dry.

“I really loved it too,” Louis spoke, not feeling any embarrassment for telling Harry that too.

“I was actually looking forward to doing that, to get to know you better,” Harry couldn’t stop himself from speaking and from actually stepping closer to Louis. Once again on that day, he acted more confident than he felt, his body doing what he most wished to.

“Me too, yeah,” Louis gulped, noticing Harry getting close to him. Fuck, he wouldn’t let this last chance slip away now. Harry was there, literally an inch away from him, on his doorstep, telling him that he had wanted to spend the day with Louis; there was no way that the way he felt about Harry wasn’t mutual.

They didn’t speak again, both green and blue eyes going from looking right at each other to the other’s lips.

Harry had never felt so brave in his whole life and he knew that that was it. All the useless pining he had felt for Louis in the past two years was gonna pay off now, with Louis leaning into him. Harry could almost feel their noses touch as Louis tilted his head up just a little, to meet Harry’s height, eyes closing to finally give in to the moment.

“Lou, has Harry gone already?” Lottie’s voice came from behind Louis and all he could do was murmur a “fuck” and turn his head around, without thinking, to see if his sister was really in the hallway.

And at that, he felt the pressure of Harry’s lips on his cheek and within the second it took him to turn back to Harry, the boy wasn’t there anymore. He was greeted by nothing but the echo of a loud popping sound, and Lottie stepping behind him just a second later.

“Lou, you alright?” The girl looked at her brother, and if her expression was a little terrified, Louis could only imagine what his looked like. “Did you just see Harry apparating?”

Louis didn’t know what to answer, because yes, he had, but that was not the reason he might’ve looked like he saw a ghost. He nodded to Lottie, who only widened her eyes. “That’s a bit scary, innit? I can’t wait to do that!”

“Yeah.” That was all Louis managed to answer as he put his hand on the cheek Harry had kissed him.

Lottie clapped her hands before pulling Louis inside their house. “Alright, Lou, let’s take the girls home now.”

Louis let Lottie drag him inside again, feeling actually numb. He didn’t know what was going on inside his mind.

He and Harry were on the brink of kissing, again on that day. Harry had actually kissed him on the cheek, but disappeared right after it. Did he mean it? What were they supposed to do now?

Fuck, Louis was completely lost. And gone. Gone for a boy, for a wizard he didn’t know when he would see again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks Genny for the help with the selfie! <3


	5. Third Year (September - December 2011)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Holidays! xx

**_September, 2011_ **

 

“Louis, c’mon, we’re late!” Lottie said as she pushed her trolley after passing through the wall.

“If I walk faster when walking through this wall I’m afraid I’ll appear in China,” Louis breathed heavily as he stepped inside Platform 9 ¾. Lottie was practically running with her trolley in front of him. “Calm the fuck down, Charlotte Tomlinson. You might run over someone with this,” he paced to catch her.

“We’re running out of time, Louis! If you hadn’t spent so much time doing your hair, we’d have arrived here earlier. Now, if I don’t catch the train…” As she spoke, the first whistle of the Express sounded and she looked alarmed at Louis.

Louis got the handle of the trolley and pushed it along with Lottie, speeding up their steps to reach the Express in time.

“If you hadn’t checked if you really had mum’s authorisation for you to go to Hogsmeade a hundred times as I was doing my hair, you’d have rushed me, but no,” Lottie grunted beside him as they finally reached a door of a compartment. They both knew the argument had reached a stalemate, their bickering ending there as Louis helped push the trunk to one of the Express’ carriage doors and the girl held Ruth’s cage in her hand.

“I just didn’t want to forget it! You know how much I’ve been waiting to go to Hogsmeade! As for you, I don’t know why fixing your hair and choosing the perfect outfit mattered that much,” she looked at him, teasingly, as she held her trunk one step higher than where she was standing.

Louis only rolled his eyes and the train whistled again. He could see the train starting to tremble, its engine humming already.

“My appearance is really important, sis. It doesn’t matter if I’m going to the bakery next door or to bring my witch sister to King’s Cross,” he joked as he quickly scanned the Platform with his eyes.

They had barely been in the station for 5 minutes and he knew that there was next to zero chances of him actually seeing Harry on the Platform, with Lottie informing him when Harry had sent her a letter a few weeks after her birthday that he had become Head Boy. ( _“What does that even mean? Wasn’t he already a monitor?” “Yes, but now he is like_ the boss _of the monitors!” “Guess Mr._ Perfect _now has upgraded to Mr._ Dream Boy _, then.” “Merlin, Louis, shut up.”)._ It stung Louis to see Harry sending Lottie a letter and not even thinking about sending one to him, to maybe explain himself as why he simply disappeared after their almost kiss on Louis’ front door.

Louis tried not to dwell on what that moment meant. He tried not to question if Harry had simply vanished because he was scared of Lottie seeing them almost kissing or because he had, at the last minute, decided that kissing Louis wasn’t worth it. Harry’s silence, though, was weighing more with the latter option, but Louis tried his best not to overthink it. He knew he wanted Harry and it seemed Harry could be into him too, but there was no way of Louis actually knowing what went through the curly boy’s head – if Louis was anything more than a “muggle rendezvous” for him.

Not that Louis really minded that, but, you know. He had his pride.

He only hoped that he could see the boy once he went with Lottie to King’s Cross, that he could at least talk to him, to say hi and see if Harry would act differently with him. Time didn’t seem to be helping his case, though.

“Yeah, I’ll pretend I believe that,” Lottie chuckled and then the train started to move. She had to lean against the door of the carriage to hold her balance. “Anyway, bye, Lou! See you in December!”

Louis watched as his sister started to move along with the train. “Don’t forget to write to me!” He waved his hand at her as she shook her head, smiling, murmuring a “of course, you prat!” and got inside, doing her best to pull her trunk along with her.

The train was speeding up now, moving faster and faster away from Louis. His sister’s carriage already away from him, as he observed the others pass right in front of him with students hanging from the windows, waving at the people standing on the Platform.

As he was about to turn away and walk back to King’s Cross, his normal and not-wizard King’s Cross, he spotted a head full of curls poking outside a window. A second head – a blond one – was standing beside it and Louis knew who those people were. He stood there, a little static, as both heads passed right in front of him.

He saw the moment Harry’s eyes caught sight of him, and how Harry's face simply went still, smile frozen on his lips.

“Look, it’s Louis!” It wasn’t Harry’s voice that was speaking. It was Niall’s happy, loud and Irish voice and that seemed to have broken Harry from whatever state he was in as he managed to open an even bigger smile, still a bit too shy, and wave at Louis.

Louis only waved back, quickly because the boys were already moving away from him. He didn’t manage to say anything, but he could see Harry’s mouth move in what seemed to be him saying “Hi” and it shouldn’t make Louis’ insides flip. It was only Harry, with those big green eyes of his, looking at him as if he wasn’t expecting Louis to be there.

Louis smiled back and ducked his head after, putting his hands inside his pockets and turning around.

There was nothing he could do as the train was taking Harry (with Niall) away from him. He couldn’t jump on it and talk to Harry. He couldn’t also stay there at the Platform, simply looking as the train sped away from him, wishing Harry would jump out of it and go talk to him. He didn’t know if Harry’s stare at him was of a happy surprise or of utter shock.

There was no way of knowing as he finally passed through Platform 9 ¾’s pillar and stepped again between Platform 9 and 10.

He had to go back to his normal life, still not knowing where he and Harry stood, as Harry was now on his way back to Hogwarts.

*

“Styles!” Harry heard Niall calling him from where he was coming down the stairs as Harry was walking with Freya back to the dungeons.

“Listen, I don’t care if you don’t like that Ravenclaw Prefect – to be honest, I don’t like him either. You have to be civil to him anyway. Think of it as an apprenticeship to your Ministry career, ok? Talk to him so smoothly you’ll tell him to go fuck himself and he’ll say thank you.” Harry heard her laugh as she walked into the Common Room (this week’s password was Regulus Black, perks of being the Head Boy and having choosing powers) and he turned around to face Niall. “Yeah?”

“Merlin, I hate that you are now Head Boy and always off doing HeadBoyish things,” Niall laughed, stepping closer to Harry.

“I am now a very serious person off doing very serious business, Niall. This School needs me,” Harry said trying to sound serious, but that only made Niall and him start laughing.

“You’re gonna be a bloody awful teacher, everybody will hate you, you know?” Niall tried to catch his breath. “But anyway, that’s not what I’m here for…”

“What’s up?” Harry asked before stepping inside the Common Room as the door was about to close. Niall followed his steps.

“Apparently, I became an owl because I have a message to deliver to you,” Niall plopped down on one of the black leather couches.

Harry sat down on its arm and looked at Niall confused. “From whom?”

“Lover boy Mikael,” Niall poked Harry’s side, teasingly.

If that was supposed to make Harry laugh, it didn’t work. All he did was roll his eyes and puff.

“Wow, are you already over him? That’s why he was asking me why you didn’t show up at the Room of Requirement yesterday?”

“First, I was never under him to be over him now,” Harry closed his eyes and sighed, but Niall’s cackle made him quickly look at him again, confused.

“This means you were the top then?”

“Shut up, you dick,” Harry shook his head, slapping Niall on the arm and flopping beside him on the couch as the boy howled in laughter.

“So, what’s the matter? Didn’t you guys snog a few days ago?”

“Yeah, we did, but, I just– It was a one time thing, it wasn’t that he was awful, but, he’s not…” Harry was trying to find again the excuses he told himself for ignoring Mikael’s note the previous day. Yeah, he and Mikael had made out, it was ok; it had been just like all the other boys Harry had been before. Nothing out of the ordinary, as always. Nothing that made him want anything more with them, no sparks or held breaths. Nothing like feeling butterflies in his stomach by just thinking about kissing them. Nothing like the way he felt by only being one second from kissing Louis.

“He’s not…? He’s not a certain pretty muggle boy you almost managed to kiss last month?” Niall looked at him with a brow raised.

He could deny with all of his soul that it wasn’t because of Louis. He could try and change the topic and avoid Niall’s knowingly stare at him, but then Niall would torture him forever, because Niall knew the truth. Niall knew everything because Harry simply couldn’t stop venting to his best friend about Lottie’s party, about how he was now a hundred percent sure that he just didn’t have a silly crush on the older boy and how now he didn’t know what to do because he could tell Louis felt the same about him, but with what had happened, with Louis turning his face away when they were just about to kiss and with Harry disapparating a second later, he couldn’t know what Louis actually felt.

“Exactly,” Harry confessed, sighing deeply. “I– bloody hell, Niall, I wish I could stop thinking about him and go snog all the boys who come talk to me, but I just can’t. Whenever I think ‘hey! No need to get so hung up on a boy, plenty other frogs in the pond!’ I remember how well we clicked together and all the others pale in comparison. It’s ridiculous.”

“That’s just because you chickened out, Frogface... Or should I say _cheeked_ out?” Niall mocked, making a kissing sound with his lips. “For Merlin’s sake, Haz, you kissed his cheek when you could’ve simply just kissed the hell out of his mouth.”

“He turned around when we were about to!” Harry shook his head, grasping at the ends of his robe, nervously.

“Because you said Lottie called? I’d be scared too if I was about to kiss someone on my doorstep and Greg showed up behind me! You said he was leaning in, damn it Harry, nobody who doesn’t want to kiss someone else would lean in.”

“Maybe he decided that he didn’t want to? I don’t know.”

“Stop being a dickhead, seriously,” Niall rolled his eyes and turned his body to face Harry better. “You’re being so stupid! If everything you told me about that party happened, then I’m surprised you guys didn’t fuck in the middle of–”

“Blimey, Niall, seriously, shut the fuck up!” Harry didn’t let Niall finish his sentence, slapping him on the head.

“I am being serious! I was feeling the tension just by listening to what you were telling me, imagine being there! Now, it doesn’t matter if you chickened out, if he turned his face around for whatever reason and you guys didn’t kiss. What matters is that you can’t deny both of you felt something and you’re being stupid for ignoring this part!” Niall was looking seriously at Harry and he knew that his friend had a point.

If Harry could, he would relive that day over and over again just to have the feeling of being with Louis; just to see again how Louis looked at him, how attentive Louis was with him, how much Louis had made him laugh, how much Louis had made him feel comfortable without putting in too much effort, how much it seemed that Louis was enjoying his company as much as Harry had enjoyed his. Whatever it was that Harry felt that day, he was almost sure it wasn’t one sided.

“I know and I hate that you are right, ugh,” Harry admitted, “but, fuck, I simply apparated, Niall. He must be thinking I didn’t want it and I should’ve said something at King’s Cross too, right? I just stood there looking at him and…”

“That was pretty dumb too, but there wasn’t much you could do since you were inside a freaking moving train, so yeah,” Niall shook his head laughing. “You’re so smart for some things and so stupid for others.”

“He must think I’m just a coward now,” Harry led his hand to his face, pressing the heels of his hands on his eyes.

“Well, he wouldn’t think that if you just made a freaking move? You should’ve written to him a long time ago, most likely the moment you stepped inside your house again after fucking disapparating on him, but as you didn’t…”

“He should’ve too! He could’ve written to me! And he didn’t, so what am I supposed to do? If he really wanted...” Harry shook his head again, breathing heavily.

“You do realize you two are being the typical teenagers who like each other but are too afraid to talk, right?” Niall patted Harry’s thigh, making the curly boy glare at him again. “Listen, Deerest. I might have to intervene here. See, if you don’t write to him soon enough and if I have to hear you moaning his name under your blankets at night one more time, I swear to Merlin I’ll send him a letter myself.”

“The shit you do! I always _silencio_ my bed!” Harry said as he turned to Niall, shocked to know that Niall had actually heard something like that.

“Yeah, you’re right, I don’t. But I figured,” Niall gave him a smug smirk, tickling Harry on the arm.

“Ugh, shut up,” Harry laughed faintly, trying to suppress his embarrassment. “It’s fucking hard, Niall. I’ve never felt like this and, yeah, I should’ve made a move before. I will, I want to. It’s just…”

“Hey Harry, Niall!” Lottie’s voice interrupted his rambling to Niall as the girl entered the Common Room accompanied by Danny.

Both boys waved at them as they kept walking towards the direction of their dorm.

Harry sighed again when Lottie wasn’t on his sight anymore. “There’s also Lottie. I don’t know, I’m her friend, I don’t know how she’ll react if she finds out.”

“For someone who desperately wants this boy, you’re finding way too many excuses not to go after what you want, Styles. I’m pretty sure Lottie would throw a party if she knew you like her brother and in my honest opinion, she knows that, even Dumbledore from his grave knows it. She’s just playing coy because it’s not her place to say anything.”

“I– I don’t know.”

“Stop being a wanker, literally. I stand by what I said and I’m sure you don’t want me minding your love business, so it’s about time you do something about it.” Niall got up, ruffling Harry’s curls. “And at least tell Mikael and whoever else you’ve been shagging that you’re off the market.”

“I’m not off the market!” Harry turned his head to watch Niall walk away. The blond boy stopped walking, looking at Harry with a pointed look.

“Yeah, right, let’s pretend you’re not. In that case, that doesn’t mean you aren’t only looking for one specific item when you go shopping,” Niall winked at him and went on his way out of the Common Room.

Harry hated how much Niall knew him and how much he was right. He knew he was being irrational to overthink everything that had happened between him and Louis at the party and that he just should go after the boy, because that’s what he wanted. He wanted Louis; that he was sure of.

What he wasn’t sure was if Louis liked him back. He wanted to believe Louis did so, he desperately wanted to. Maybe he was just afraid to find out that how he felt about Louis wasn’t corresponded.

He would, though; he would try and find the courage to write to Louis… one day. Maybe in the next few days or weeks. He would, if Louis didn’t write to him first.

 

**_October, 2011_ **

 

It was Friday night and Louis found himself sat by his desk, trying to start typing up his report due Monday. He knew he had delayed and procrastinated doing it, but his work at the campus library was taking most of his free time now, and it was even more difficult with Liam as his roommate, distracting him all the time.

That night wasn’t different.

“Are you seriously going to spend your night doing homework? C’mon Tommo, it’s Friday night! TGIF, mate,” Liam said as he walked in their small living room, buttoning up his plaid shirt.

“I barely have time to live nowadays, Payno, so, let me just try to finish this and chill tonight, right?” Louis pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, tilting his head back and inclining himself against the chair to look at Liam.

“You used to be so much fun, Lewis,” Liam moaned as he sat on the couch to put on his boots. “When did you become this boring? C’mon, it’s been a while since I’ve even seen you pulling anyone. I mean, if I actually think about it, I haven’t seen you hooking up with anyone since the semester started, what’s going on?”

Louis sighed and his eyes unconsciously glanced at the photo board right above his desk. If he looked at the photo he had pinned there when he came back from home, adding a new face to the bunch of photos of him with Liam and his other mates from Uni and also from his family and friends from Donny, he tried to pretend otherwise. It was just one more face. One more curly, rosy-cheeked and green-eyed face standing beside Lottie, along with Louis on his sister’s birthday.

“And why exactly is my love life any of your concern, Liam? Stop being nosy!” Louis quickly looked back at his friend, trying to sound as put out as he could, only to see him quirk his brow.

“I’m not being nosy! I just noticed that since we came back, you just seem quieter? I mean, I know you were never the one to brag about the guys you would shag, except, yeah, you were. I’ve heard enough of your stories for a lifetime now, thank you very much, but now you’re just…” Liam got up from the couch, getting close to the coat rack to get his denim jacket, and walking closer to Louis as he put it on.

“A boy can’t decide to play it low for a while? I just started working at the library, for fuck’s sake, Liam, and my classes are consuming me already. I don’t have time to think about going out and getting it on with the first bloke that appears in front of me.” Louis rolled his eyes, looking back at his laptop in front of him.

“Sure, you don’t have time to go out and think about blokes out there, but, what about this bloke right here?” Liam simply pointed at the exact photo Louis had just looked at a minute ago. That sneaky bastard.

“Uh?” Louis barely looked up to where Liam was pointing.

“Oi, don’t play dumb with me, you arsehole!” Liam slapped Louis on the back of his head, now making the boy look up at him. “I’ve seen you look at this picture more than a few times. You don’t look at any of the other photos like that, not even at the ones with Stan and I thought you and him had shagged at least once.”

“What the fuck?” Louis took off his glasses, looking outraged at Liam. “Stan is my best friend, Payno! It’d be like me hooking up with you, which is just, ew,” Louis shook his head.

“See! That’s what I’m talking about! You don’t look at us, your friends, the way you look at this boy – who, by the way, you never really explained to me where he came from?” Liam took the photo with Harry, Lottie and Louis from the board, to observe it better.

Louis was fast to fetch it from his hand.

“It’s… he was a… he’s a friend from Donny, but he moved, uh, a few years ago, and,” Louis gulped more than he actually talked, trying to come up with something, as he looked at the photo in his hand, “sometimes he still visits us, yeah.”

“Really?” Liam still looked down at him, now propping his hips to the side with his hand on it. “Would he also be a friend you happened to have a crush on back in the day and still do now?”

“What? What the fuck are you talking? Why would I...” Louis was trying not to get nervous about Liam’s apparently interrogatory and observant questions.

“Christ, Louis, if he was any old friend from Donny, you’d simply said “Oi, this is so-and-so from Donny, we used to play footie together”. You wouldn’t trip over your own words, which never happened before with you, so, I just assumed…”

Louis got up from his chair to pin the photo back at the board. “You have nothing to assume, Liam, shut the fuck up, seriously,” he answered back, annoyed that Liam would notice so much.

“I’m just saying, mate! I’m not accusing you of anything! There’s nothing wrong with still having a teenage crush on your cute friend. He’s actually cute, even for me that don’t like blokes.”

Louis breathed deeply and closed his eyes, plopping back on his chair and closing the lid of his laptop with frustration.

“I’m sorry, Lou,” Liam put a hand on Louis’ shoulder, squeezing it slightly. “I didn’t mean to intrude on your personal life. It’s just, I care about you, mate. You were always the loud and flirty lad when we’d go out and now you just decided to play it low and, me as your friend, can’t help but notice when you keep daydreaming, looking at this photo or also the ones you have in your phone.”

“Are you spying on me, Liam?” Louis tried to sound serious, intimidating the brown haired boy.

“No! I’m not!” Liam held his hands up in a defensive way.

“I’m kidding!” Louis laughed, but only slightly. He knew he couldn’t escape Liam’s questions. If he had already noticed Louis was different, he wouldn’t stop until he got what he wanted out of Louis. “I– it’s complicated, kind of?” Louis looked up at Liam, glancing back at the photo.

“Do you actually like him? Fuck, I knew something was up!” Liam prompted his fist in the air in a celebratory way. Louis simply rolled his eyes.

“I don’t...” Louis shook his head, without really knowing where to start. “I don’t know how I actually feel about him. We definitely hit it off when he came to Lottie’s party this summer and yeah, I’ve had a crush on him for a while now, but, he’s a–” Louis stopped himself, refraining from saying the word “wizard” and trying to think of what to say next, “he’s away most of the time, we don’t actually talk much anymore, but fuck, Liam, we almost kissed.” Louis admitted, looking back at his friend.

Liam’s eyes bulged. “What?! You’re basically head over heels for this guy and you haven’t…”

“Oi! What do you take me for, Lima? A manwhore?”

“No!” Liam gasped. “That’s not what I meant! Well, maybe a little bit. I’ve just never seen you talk like this about anyone? If you want to be with someone, you just go for it, at clubs at least, but I guess this boy must be something else for you not to make a move on him?”

“Yeah, he’s special,” Louis said, barely audibly. “It’s complicated, though. We live different lives, he lives in fucking Narnia now apparently.”

“Didn’t you say you guys hit it off? Apparently, he likes you too? There’s no way someone would reject you, Tommo,” Liam patted him on the shoulder.

“Well, thanks, that flattering,” Louis chuckled. “I think he likes me back, but he backed off last minute. I don’t know, I was stupid too. We missed the opportunity, anyway. It’s very unlikely that it can happen again.”

“Have you at least talked to him?” Liam furrowed his brows.

Louis was thoughtful for a second. He knew he was being a coward for not writing to Harry in the past two months, even now that he was back at Hogwarts, and with Lottie being a constant reminder that Harry was there and that he could reach out to him. Fuck, Lottie had said, more than once that Harry had been asking her how Louis was doing and, hell, why hasn’t he written to Louis then? If he really wanted to know, he should just send Marcel to him (and it’s not that he missed that spoiled owl, nope, he didn’t).

“It’s kinda hard too...”

“What? To talk to him? What’s so hard about texting him, Louis?” Liam’s voice sounded confused. “If you’re friends with him, if he still visits you, you must talk, at least a few times? Christ, I’ve never seen you this coy and shy about a boy before. This lad must have put a magical spell on you for you to actually be afraid of talking to him,” Liam joked.

Liam didn’t know what he was talking about. Liam didn’t know anything about Harry, but the mention of Harry and spell and magical on the same sentence made a shiver go through Louis’ body.

“Fuck, Liam,” Louis got up, pacing to the couch, because sitting there by his desk was already making him jitter. “I don’t know what to do,” he ran his fingers through his hair as he sat down. “I want to talk to him but I don’t know what he wants. If he wanted to talk to me, he could’ve too, but he hadn’t and yeah, this is new for me. I just don’t want to screw it up, you know? We could be… I mean, we’re good friends already, I think. I just don’t know if I want to find out that what happened at Lottie’s birthday was just a moment?”

Liam followed Louis to the couch and sat beside him. “Look, I’ve only had one serious relationship so far and you know it hasn’t been easy lately so I’m not the best one to give you advice. But, mate, it appears to me you both are waiting for the first one to make the move and if neither of you do anything, you’ll just stay in this what if limbo forever. God, Louis, if you really like him, just go for it, you now? I don’t see what’s so complicated? If you have remained friends through distance and all, I’m sure that if you find out what you feel is mutual and that you both want to do something about it, you’ll find a way to work it out.”

Louis took a deep breath. He didn’t know why he was holding back so much to actually talk to Harry. It was scary to think that maybe he had interpreted things wrongly, but in the back of his mind, he knew he hadn’t imagined any of what happened between he and Harry. The boy had told Louis that he wanted to spend more time with him, that he wanted to get to know Louis better.

Maybe, just maybe, they both got scared at the time because of Lottie catching them? Things happened so fast Louis barely had time to process what actually happened. And maybe Harry was scared too now, probably thinking that Louis was just leading him on, and fuck, that was not what Louis wanted. He wanted Harry and he missed him, even if they just had a shy friendship that could blossom into something else if Louis just stopped being a twat and actually did something about it.

Louis inhaled heavily, defeated. “I guess you’re right. Fuck.”

“Aren’t I always?” Liam winked at Louis and kissed his cheek, as Louis made a disgusted face at him. “Now, if you’re spending the night in, at least text him, whatever, use your chill time to pull yourself together and go get him,” Liam patted Louis’ thighs and got up from the couch. “But if you change your mind and decide to have a pint with the lads, just hit me up, okay?”

“Don’t worry about me, I really need to finish this paper, so yeah, I’ll just stay here.” Louis saw Liam get his keys and his phone from the coffee table.

“Then you know what else you have to do,” Liam winked at him one last time before reaching the door. “Don’t wait up for me. God knows if the lads decide to pub crawl tonight what time I’ll be back. See ya, Lou!”

Liam closed the door behind him and Louis chuckled, flopping himself even more on the couch, resting his head back on it.

“Fuck,” he murmured, pitching the bridge of his nose.

After all those letters of "Harry this, Harry that" and "Me, Harry and Gemma in Hogsmeade (in the _Three Broomsticks_ – was that an euphemism? Wizards, honestly.)” Lottie had sent him, it was time for Louis to stop pining (he could hear Liam's voice inside his head now, that twat) and also stop letting his own sister call him out for neglecting his apparently new friendship with Harry.

_Lou, I’ve been meaning to ask you something. Why haven’t you and Harry talked again after my birthday? I was just wondering because every time I talk about you and your Uni stuff, he gets really interested about it and he keeps asking how you’ve been doing. You guys seemed to get along so well on my birthday, so I just kept thinking… You know you can send him letters too, right? I think he would really like to keep in touch with you and it’d just be really nice to have my brother and my best friend from Hogwarts being friends too!_

And now, with what Liam had said, Louis knew there was no more delaying. If he just kept on waiting, his window of opportunity would close and life could get on their way – honestly, nobody can pine forever, no matter how well two people could get along. He knew one thing, though: if Harry was really eager to ask Lottie about him, it meant that he hadn’t completely forgotten about Louis. The thing was, they were apparently two scared shits, waiting to see who would make the first move. Louis knew exactly what he could do to change that, though.

He got up from the couch and went back to his desk, opening his laptop again and going through his documents, looking for the photos folder. He selected some files from Lottie’s birthday party and saved them into a flash drive.

The next day, when Lottie’s letter arrived, he’d know what to reply to her.

*

Sunday owl post arrived that morning in Hogwarts with a flood of owls flying over the Houses tables.

Harry knew there wasn’t any letters for him as he had managed to apparate home with Gemma on Saturday, but somehow he still looked up at the ceiling of the Great Hall, with the wishful thinking that maybe Marcel would appear by the table with a letter for him, even if he hadn’t sent his owl anywhere (even if he had been dying to do so the past few days).

What he saw, though, was Lottie, who was sitting just across the table from him, receive Ruth as usual and also another post owl, which he knew where it had come from. Harry was used to seeing Lottie receive one letter from Ruth and another from the regular post owl, but this time, the post owl had dropped two letters in front of Lottie and even the girl was confused by it.

“Why did Louis send me two letters today?” She looked intrigued at the envelopes, examining them carefully as she turned them in her hand. She suddenly stopped, stare frozen on one of the envelopes.

Harry furrowed his brows as he drank his pumpkin juice. Niall was beside him eating a plum and only shrugged as he looked from Lottie to Harry.

“Uh, Harry?” Lottie managed to look up from the envelope to the boy, catching his attention. “This one is for you,” she handed the envelope in Harry’s direction and Harry’s juice got stuck in his throat.

He coughed trying to breathe again, almost spilling the juice on the table. “What?”

Niall dropped his plum on the table and whooped, banging his hands on the table and laughing obnoxiously. Harry only squinted at him.

Lottie shrugged, but with a playful smile on her face. “Why don’t you just open it and see?”

Harry took the letter in his hand but had barely time to process the envelope because Niall had stolen it from him.

“Fucking finally!” Niall wiggled the letter in front of Harry, cackling loudly, making Lottie and also the other girls, Danny, Courtney and Skye look at them confused.

Lottie only giggled and started to open her letter.

“Will you shut the fuck up?” Harry said through gritted teeth, harshly, already taking his wand out of his trousers. He could feel his face aflame, anger and complete embarrassment taking over him.

Niall dropped the envelope on the table immediately, raising his hands in surrender, but still laughing. “All yours mate!”

Harry squinted at him once again and pulled the letter away from Niall. He exhaled deeply as he carefully opened the envelope, glancing from it to Lottie in front of him, who was reading her brother’s letter, unaware of what the piece of paper in his hands could mean.

He didn’t know what to expect. He wasn’t actually expecting Louis to write to him. Well, he couldn’t deny that he had been dying to receive a letter from Louis, but he wasn’t expecting he would get one from him through Lottie. Harry had imagined that if they would continue their letter exchange, it would be as they had done before, secretly, even more now, after what had happened between them. He was confused as to why Louis preferred Lottie to know they had been communicating, not knowing if the boy still considered their letters their little secret or if he wanted to keep it one.

He took the letter from the envelope anyway because it didn’t actually matter. Louis had written to him, that was the important thing. While Harry was still being the twat who was too shy to write to Louis, Louis had been the better man and finally decided to talk to him again.

He looked at the note and tried to suppress the small smile that was forming on his lips.

_Dear Harry,_

_I was going through some of Lottie’s birthday pictures (you did a great job on taking them by the way, congrats) to send to her and found a few ones with you in them. I thought you’d like to have a copy of them, especially the last one I enclosed to you :)_

_I actually have been missing one of my pairs of aviators. Do you happen to know what happened to those? ;)_

_That was a lovely day to spend with you!_

_Sorry we haven’t been much in touch. I hope we can catch up soon?_

_Hope everything is well with you!_

_Yours sincerely,_

_Louis xx_

Harry laughed to himself, remembering the pair of glasses tucked inside his trunk in his dorm. Yeah, he wasn’t actually ashamed of having stolen Louis’ glasses (un)consciously.

He looked inside the envelope to see a few photos held together with an elastic band. He went through them, seeing the pictures of him and Lottie with her friends, her sisters, the one where he was with Lottie and Louis by the cake, and finally the photo Louis had mentioned. He had almost forgotten how good his picture with Louis had looked. And to be honest, it was even more beautiful now that it was developed.

“Fuck, you weren’t lying,” Niall’s voice came from beside him, almost in a whisper. “You two look cute together,” the Irish boy said, resting his chin on Harry’s shoulder.

Harry flickered his nose, making Niall scrunch it up, snickering.

“Harry, look, Louis sent me the pictures from my birthday! Is that what he sent you too?” Lottie called his attention, holding a few pictures in front of him.

“Uh, yeah, he did,” Harry cleared his throat, trying to look up from the picture in his hand to Lottie.

“You were an awesome photographer, Harry, these photos look great!” Danny said beside Lottie, taking the photos from her hand to take a look at them, calling Courtney and Skye to also check them.

“Yeah, thanks Harry! If we had left the photographer duty to Louis, we probably wouldn’t have any photo, since he was too entertained with you that day,” Lottie giggled and went back to look at the pictures with her friends.

“If only she knew what you boys were entertaining yourselves with,” Niall whispered to Harry’s ears and at that, Harry fully turned his body to face Niall.

“I swear to Dumbledore, Niall, if you don’t shut up…”

“I can shut up now, since I don’t have to threaten you anymore to write to him,” Niall winked. “So, what are you waiting for?”

Harry sighed heavily, looking at Lottie talking happily with her friends, remembering their time together at the girl’s party. It would probably look a bit suspicious of him to rush back to the dungeons right away to write back to Louis, but he wasn’t really worried about what anyone else would think about it.

Louis had written to him, had sent him their photo together, had said that he had spent a lovely day with Harry, that he was hoping to catch up with him soon… That was all Harry had been waiting for more than two months. It took them a long time to recover their courage and reach out to the other, but now it had happened and yes, Harry was more than in a rush to talk to Louis again.

He got up from the table, with Niall smirking at him and if Lottie saw him leaving the Great Hall almost running back to Slytherin’s Common Room, he didn’t mind.

Harry got to his dorm, fetching his parchment paper and quills and placing them on his desk, quickly fumbling through his trunk to find his stack of photos he had previously developed in the past few weeks. He got the one photo he knew would be perfect to send to Louis, smiling at himself because at the time, he only thought Niall was being an annoying brat, making fun of him because he was wearing Louis’ sunglasses, and actually taking [that photo of him](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/36/7f/21/367f21f691520d8ea814ccc9d65b3ee2.jpg), laughing embarrassingly while they walked around Hogsmeade. But now, that photo would have a very useful purpose.

He sat down on his chair and quickly started to write to Louis the letter he had been waiting so long to send him.

_Dear Louis,_

_Thank you so much for the photos! I had a lot of fun taking them on that day, they look so nice! Ours, specially. I might keep it in my journal._

_I had fun spending the day with you too. I kind of miss it, really._

_And oops, I think I accidentally left your house with your glasses with me. Sorry about that! I brought them to Hogwarts to give them back to Lottie, but ended up forgetting about it and well… they were really nice glasses, so I guess you can’t blame me for using them? I took very good care of them, though. Even took them to a tour around Hogsmeade. I hope you like the photo!_

_I’m sorry I haven’t spoken to you either. I’ve been having so much to study and being a Head Boy also is not easy, but yes, I’d really love to know what you’re up to! How’s Uni? Lottie has been telling me a lot! You’re working now? How’s that? I hope you still have time to play footie and video games. I can’t say the same because, well, we don’t have this stuff here but when I have some free time, I’ve been watching some Slytherin Quidditch team practices and the conclusion I’ve got is that I think I’d really be a better footie player than a Quidditch one, thanks to you teaching me how to play it._

_Hope everything else is well with you too._

_I’m really looking forward to talking to you again._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_H._ _xx_

_PS: I hope your roommate won’t find it weird Marcel showing up at your dorm. If it’s an inconvenience, I can find another way to send you a letter next time, just let me know._

Harry folded the parchment, getting the picture he had chosen and enclosing it together inside the envelope, sealing it, not forgetting to write his usual “To Louis” and “From Harry” on the back and the front of the envelope.

He walked to the Owlery, feeling happier than he imagined he would be; and also feeling a little carefree about what he had written to Louis. He wasn’t holding back this time. Now was the time to make amends and hopefully have Louis again in his life, even if as just pen/quill pals. And he was content with that.

Plus, he wasn’t the only one missing his bonding time with the muggle boy.

“Hey, buddy,” Harry approached Marcel when he finally arrived at the Owlery, scratching under his beak. “I know it’s been a while, but are you ready to fly to London today?” He fetched some mulberries he had collected on his way there from his pocket and handed them to Marcel, who didn’t know if he should eat the fruit or flap his wings at the news of flying to Louis again.

“Calm down or else you’ll have indigestion when you fly, alright? Good boy,” Harry patted his head as Marcel ate all the fruits in his palm.

“Now, please, fly safely and behave when you arrive at Louis’. I don’t want that roommate of his to treat you badly, alright?” Marcel blinked slowly once, tilting his head. “Yeah, I know he’s not the muggle you’re planning on getting the attention from anyway…” Harry laughed and Marcel only hooted chirpily. “Here, take care of this,” he handed the owl the letter and Marcel took it in his beak, as Harry opened his arm for the bird to leap onto it, taking him to the open window.

Harry scratched Marcel’s head one last time before he opened his wings and started to fly away.

Watching him disappear into the cloudy sky, Harry hoped that his owl would return soon, bringing him what he had been longing since summer.

 

**_December, 2011_ **

 

Receiving Harry’s letter wasn’t something unexpected for Louis.

What Louis didn’t expect though was that talking to Harry through letters would become a routine. It had been almost two months since they started talking weekly and Louis couldn’t feel any better about it ( _“Feeling chirpy today, Lewis! Is it because of the return of your weird pet owl or because you finally talked to your crush?” “A little bit of both, now shush.”_ ).

How could he not feel that way? Harry seemed just as happy to keep talking to him and now their friendship felt more open, as if they hadn’t been apart since Lottie’s party – and to be honest, a shitton more flirty, if their subtle mention of the incident during the party was anything to go by.

( _“I had a lot of fun with you that day, I regret almost nothing. I hope we can meet again soon to have just as much fun.”_ )

Yeah, Louis loved to talk to Harry, but his favourite part of the letters was when Harry would send him some pictures, sharing a little more of his Hogwarts life with him.

Some of the photos Harry sent were still and some were in motion, and those Louis made sure he kept well-hidden so Liam wouldn’t find them. One of them was of Harry smiling, waving at the camera and showing [a thumbs up](https://68.media.tumblr.com/78044a6f55cbb6a385cdf9cb06a9efe2/tumblr_okcuqfNKjq1vnwncjo1_250.jpg), wearing his Slytherin uniform. He’d never seen someone so endearing.

Although, many of the photos were of Harry and his blond Irish friend. Louis had to contain himself from rolling his eyes every time he saw one of those inside the envelopes. It was not that he didn’t like the photos, or Niall per se; the photos were sometimes funny, but Louis would rather only see Harry in the pictures, thanks. He couldn’t say that to Harry though, and he actually encouraged him to send more pictures with Niall, telling him how funny they looked together, which prompted Harry to keep sending them: one with the two boys by the big Lake at Hogwarts, with [Niall hugging Harry from behind](https://68.media.tumblr.com/0f58c5751aa6ea6b5cc9ee1a27f0e368/tumblr_ogp315KxzO1qzf9bzo1_500.png), or one with them [ before an Herbology class](https://68.media.tumblr.com/0e0e757cfe1ebbfaf2399d7abd7e81a9/tumblr_okcuqfNKjq1vnwncjo4_500.jpg), or another of them during their day off at Hogsmeade [ in their winter clothes](https://68.media.tumblr.com/d03c8c006ef440af56f0327218f408e5/tumblr_okcwo48Unq1vnwncjo1_500.jpg).

But one of Louis’ favourite photos of Harry, besides their selfie at the party, was taken by Lottie. It came with the first letters the boy had sent and he said that Lottie asked him to pose for it and send it to Louis, as she was well aware that they had become pen/quill pals.

It was at one of the last sunny and enjoyable days they had had at Hogwarts, during a free period where they were enjoying some time by the Lake again. [ Harry](https://68.media.tumblr.com/561f5ed18c7b7a8febf2909c7f330481/tumblr_okcuqfNKjq1vnwncjo2_500.jpg) was sat on the boat, holding himself by one of its poles. He was smiling so sweetly, with his green eyes shining and curls wild because of the wind. It almost reminded Louis of how Harry looked at Lottie’s birthday and it made his chest clutch a little because, Harry was so beautiful, he looked so gorgeous without even trying and that was not only it.

(Besides, he was no saint and that tie of Harry’s was a big star in Louis’ imagination – not that anyone needed to know that. He was just glad the pictures kept coming anyway.)

Every time Marcel appeared in his dorm window, it brought a fresh wave of giddy excitement for Louis and a new glimpse of Harry and his life with letters that would tell him how much Harry was preparing himself for his NEWTs, and how he was already trying to talk to Professor Slughorn and also Headmistress McGonagall about what he could do after finishing Hogwarts to specialise himself to become a teacher, or with the detentions he had to give some first and second years and how happy he was now that Lottie had stopped jinxing people; or with every letter Louis would reply to him, when the boy asked Louis to tell him more about his muggle studies and activities and Louis would tell him how he was almost certain he was also inclined to become an English or Drama teacher because he had done some projects at some secondary schools and he absolutely fell in love with teaching the youngsters, or telling him about his footie matches with his mates from Uni and how he still didn’t know how wizards could enjoy Quidditch when footie was much easier and more fun. It made the differences and distance between them seem so small.

They would exchange simple letters, but full of details, full of intentions of wanting to know each other’s day-to-day and that only helped them to become good friends – and hopefully, _hopefully_ something more.

The last letter Louis wrote to Harry before the Christmas break, he intended to make sure Harry understood his intentions.

_Dear H,_

_How are things with you this week? I hope you’re not stressed out anymore because of your last assignments before Christmas. Have those unbearable first years given you any rest? Can’t you just simply lock them inside a room and never let them roam around the school causing trouble again? I mean, you’re the_ Dream Boy _, I bet you have special prerogatives bearing this title and all haha_

_I really hope you’re feeling better from all the stress you’ve been telling me. Fortunately, Christmas holiday is just a week away and you’ll finally have time to chill. Talking about that, have you decided if you’re going back home or if you’re staying at Hogwarts?_

_Not to pressure you on anything, but I was kinda hoping we could meet at King’s Cross as I’m going to pick up Lottie, and I thought it’d be nicer to wish you Happy Christmas in person than through letters. Let me know what you’ve decided ;)_

_I’m also looking forward to this Christmas holiday, going back to Donny and spending time with mum and the girls. Not looking too much forward to turning 20, though. God, I’m old, Harold. Don’t you have any kind of spell that can make time stop so I don’t have to grow old? Haha_

_Anyway, I hope you have a lovely rest of week at Hogwarts._

_I’ll be waiting for you at King’s Cross next week. Don’t disappoint me, Curls_

_Yours sincerely,_

_Lou xx_

*

It wasn’t usual of Harry to snap at students when they were running around the Express, being louder than they should. He normally would let it pass, since it was normal because they were excited to go back home after spending months away at Hogwarts. But that day, Harry, who usually had a slow fuse, was being a pain in the arse with each student that would pass screaming outside the compartment he was sharing with Niall. He even skipped staying at the Prefect’s carriage because he wasn’t in the mood to deal with any of his Prefects’ complaints. Let Freya take care of them that time.

“Blimey, Hazza, what’s up with you today? You seem way too annoyed…” Niall asked as he ate some Chocolate Frogs.

“I’m fine, Niall,” Harry replied, a bit too blasé, as he smoothed his hands on his thighs.

“Well, it doesn’t appear so, you look way too nervous today. Anxious, maybe? Expecting anything when we get to King’s Cross? Or should I ask… anyone?” Niall wiggled his brows at Harry, making him throw a card from one of the Chocolate Frogs he had just eaten at the Irish boy in front of him.

“ _Levicorpus!_ ” Harry took his wand out of his pocket and pointed at Niall. “Don’t fuck this up for me, Ireland.”

“Merlin, alright!” Niall replied, laughing, his body suspended upside down by his foot. “I didn’t know being nervous to meet with a muggle boy would turn people into vicious animals, gee.”

“Niall!” Harry got his wand closer to Niall’s chest, with a brow arched.

“Oh, c’mon, Harry,” Niall slapped Harry’s wand away from him. “Stop acting so tough. I know you’re almost shitting your pants because you’re finally going to see Louis again. I mean, I’m dying to know how that will go too, but you don’t have to be nervous, you guys are friends now, and he wants to see you too, so, what’s the matter? And put me down, for Merlin’s sake.”

“ _Liberacorpus,_ ” Harry mumbled and snickered as he saw Niall fall onto the compartment’s floor, red faced and glaring at him. “The matter is that if before I didn’t know how he felt about me, now I kinda of do? And I’m hoping I’m not wrong this time and that’s scary as shit. I don’t know what to do, Niall. What if I make a fool of myself? I even brought the books I bought to give him for his birthday. I’ll probably mumble and forget how to speak in front of him,” Harry patted his rucksack beside him.

“For Merlin’s sake, Harry, how could you mess up something so simple?” Niall shook his head as he sat back on the seat. He fixed his hair and lifted his hands in a shrug. “Just say ‘Hi Louis, I’ve been dying to see you and to kiss you, but we’re in the middle of King’s Cross, so, the kissing won’t happen again, sorry. But hey, here’s my birthday gift to you, Happy Christmas’ and if you want you can relive that sweet moment of August and kiss his cheek again...” Niall mocked, making kissy lips at Harry and the next thing he saw was Harry jumping from his seat in front of him, practically wrestling him down where he was sat.

“I swear I’ll fucking jinx your clothes if you stay close to me when I meet him there, Horan!” Harry said, pointing his wand at Niall’s face again.

“But then he’d fall for me, Harold!” Niall only laughed loudly, “Plus, you love me. You’d never embarrass me in front of others like that.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t, you already do it yourself,” Harry shook his head laughing and released Niall, pocketing his wand. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t kick your arse if you embarrass me in front of him. You’ll only make me even more nervous.”

“Nah, don’t worry, mate. I’ll leave you to talk to him alone. And you probably won’t have to worry, Lottie will be there, so it’s not like you’ll actually be able to kiss or talk in private. It will be only a quick meeting, so, just shake hands, give him his gift and you can go home and whine to me about how much you wanted to kiss him.”

“Why are you my best friend?” Harry laughed again beside him, getting one of the Cauldron Cakes left on his seat.

“Oh, please. What would you be without me, my _deer_ Harry?” Niall put a hand on Harry’s cheek, pinching him there. Harry only rolled his eyes, smiling a little and deciding to ignore Niall’s stupid comments. They were almost at King’s Cross, so yeah, he had to stay calm and not mess up when meeting Louis.

When the train stopped at the station, he tried to sneak a look at the rest of the compartments to see if Lottie was still there, but apparently, the girl had already left with the rest of the students. Well, at least he wouldn’t have to face Louis alone.

“You said Gemma was coming to meet with us here?” Niall asked as they stepped down the train.

“Yeah, she wants to go to Diagon Alley before heading home, she must be somewhere around…” He held onto the strap of his rucksack, nervously.

“Great, I’ll go find her and you find your lover boy. We’ll wait for you at the exit, right? Send Lottie my love.” Niall patted Harry’s back, giving him an encouraging smile.

“Yeah, okay,” Harry simply nodded, already trying to look among the mass of heads in front of him to see if he could find Louis and Lottie.

He spotted them a few steps away, talking to Danny and her brother Tommy.

“Harry!” Lottie exclaimed as she saw him approaching them. He smiled shyly, getting closer and waving at them. “I thought I’d leave without saying goodbye to you.”

“Hey,” he greeted them, quickly looking at Louis who gave him a crooked smile. “No, I’d never leave without saying bye, I just couldn’t find you.”

“You were the one who disappeared inside the train with Niall!” Danny interjected beside Lottie.

“Oh, sorry about that,” he scratched the back of his neck, looking down a little, not daring to face at Louis again, as he sensed the older boy was staring at him. “We needed to talk about some stuff, and–”

“Neglecting some friends for only one, Harold? That’s kinda lame, mate,” Louis spoke and even though his comment was a little bit harsh, the tone of his voice was playful and Harry knew he was only saying that to get his attention.

“I was not!” Harry finally looked up to meet Louis and, oh Merlin, he wasn’t quite ready to look again at those blue eyes so close to him. “We talked a lot in the carriage on the way to Hogsmeade Station, I didn’t–”

“They are only taking the piss out of you, Styles. They barely remembered you and Niall while they couldn’t shut up about the things they would do during the Holidays. I had to listen to all of that,” Tommy said, rolling his eyes.

“Oi! You were excited to go out with us, stop that,” Danny slapped him on the stomach, which made the boy laugh slightly and Lottie giggle beside them.

“And you, Harry, any plans for the Holidays?” Louis called him again and right, Louis really wanted Harry’s attention on him. And so did he.

“Oh, nothing much,” Harry shrugged, still looking at Louis. “Niall’s going to spend the week with us and then he’s going back to Ireland, so we’ll just spend it with the fam. Mum’s bringing Robin, so it should be fun.”

“That’s nice,” Louis said and for a moment his blue eyes looked so tender Harry almost forgot everyone else around them and stepped forward. They locked eyes for what it seemed minutes as Harry only nodded and smiled at the boy, their unspoken thoughts hanging clearly between both of them. Their bubble was only broken by Danny telling them that her parents had arrived and she and Tommy had to go.

Lottie, Louis and Harry gave them their goodbyes, leaving a minute of silence and a nervous wreck of a Harry behind.

“So, I guess we should get going too, right Lou?” The wizards above should bless Lottie for not letting the awkward silence eat them up.

“Oh, right, yeah, mum will probably call any minute to know if we’re already on our way,” Louis put his hands inside his jeans pocket. “Nice to see you again, Harry,” he turned to look at the boy again, one more time with that tender look on his face. Harry felt a sting inside his stomach and hell, Louis had to stop looking at him like that otherwise he would just press him up against the nearest pillar and have his way with him, the other students be damned.

“Yeah, you too. It’s been a while,” Harry managed to say, holding the strap of his bag tighter than it was necessary.

“Since my birthday, yeah, but you guys talked after that, didn’t you?” Lottie added, making Louis and Harry look at her quickly.

“Yeah, we did, a little,” Harry answered. Lottie knew they had exchanged a few letters, but she didn’t know about all of them or their content, so it kind of made Harry a little self-conscious that he was hiding that part of his relationship with Louis from her.

“I knew you’d be great friends, see?” Lottie smiled up at both of them. “So, we’ll keep in touch, we’ll send you a letter telling you how Christmas went with the girls! You should send us something too, H, they’re dying to hear from you again!” Lottie clapped her hands excitedly.

“Yeah, I bet the girls would love that, you should do it,” Louis tilted his head in Harry’s direction, making it clear he was the one who would love to receive something from Harry at Christmas. Harry only smiled brightly at him.

“Yes, of course,” Harry looked at Lottie again, “I’ll keep in touch, don’t worry.”

“Cool! See you back in January then, Harry! Have a Happy Christmas at home,” she said, hugging him and kissing him on the cheek. She stepped away from him, already turning around and going to the Platform’s exit.

Louis laughed at that and stepped a little closer to Harry and right, yeah, Lottie had left them alone, maybe on purpose, maybe not, who knew.

“I’m glad I could see you again,” Louis said as he put a hand on Harry’s arm, squeezing it slightly.

“Yeah, me too,” Harry gulped, not really knowing what else to say, his ability to think straight disappearing with Louis being so close to him.

“Great, so, Happy Christmas, Harry, see you next year, yeah?” Louis seemed to hesitate a little, but still not letting go of Harry’s arm.

“Yes, ‘course,” Harry replied, almost inaudibly. “Happy Christmas too, Lou and oh, have a nice birthday,” he managed to speak as he moved one feet closer to Louis and turned his body to face him. He didn’t know if the middle of platform was a great place to kiss the boy. That’s all he wanted at that moment, but Lottie was still a few feet away from them and there were too many people watching; Niall was probably hidden behind some pillar with Gemma, sneaking on them to take the piss out of him later. There was one thing he could do though.

He moved closer again and enveloped Louis in a hug, finally letting go of the strap of his rucksack and throwing his arm behind Louis’ shoulder. He felt the moment Louis tensed up but relaxed in the next, giving in into the embrace, letting go of Harry’s arm too and putting his arm around Harry’s waist, squeezing him a little too tightly.

Harry could smell Louis’ cologne and shampoo, mixed with the smell of the Express’ smoke, and it should be a weird mixture but somehow, it was the sweetest thing Harry had ever experience and he refrained himself from inhaling deeply at Louis’ neck.

“Thanks,” Louis replied, squeezing Harry one last time and releasing him from the hug to look at him again. “Happy holidays, Curls,” Louis got a strand of hair from the side of Harry’s head and tucked it behind his ear, smoothly caressing his thumb on the boy’s cheek as he stepped away from him, winking before ducking his head and turning around.

Harry bit his lip to try to contain his growing fondness and desperate heartbeat, watching Louis catch up with his sister and go through the wall back to muggle King’s Cross.

“Fuck,” he murmured as he remembered he was supposed to give Louis his birthday gift before.

He couldn’t call the boy back neither go after him as they had already disappeared through the wall, and Harry had to go find Gemma and Niall to leave the Platform too.

He was lost on what to do now. He had to give Louis his gift, he needed to, but how would he now with the boy gone, with him and Lottie going back to Doncaster while he had to go back to Holmes Chapel? Unless… no, that would be too crazy, even for him. He could though, there was nothing that could stop him… fuck, yeah, okay. He was going to do it.

He breathed deeply as he turned around, moving to find his sister and Niall, wherever they were, to finally go home and have a week to think thoroughly about what could happen.

*

Waking up on his birthday at home was one of the things Louis loved the most. The girls would always jump on his bed, hugging and kissing him, delivering him their gifts – mostly drawings or some new cheap jewellery they learned how to make at school. This year, as Lottie had been able to leave Hogwarts and go to the village near the school, she bought him some Liquorice Quills, which he found really cheeky of her but not really useful, since he couldn’t write with them, but they were tasty nonetheless – he wouldn’t tell her that as she had been all excited to also give them to their other sisters.

His mother had prepared a lovely breakfast for him, with everyone eating happily at the kitchen table that morning. It had been a pretty good start of his birthday, with Stan and some of his other mates stopping by to wish him happy birthday and also taking him out to eat with them.

He came back home a little later in the afternoon to find his mother in the kitchen already preparing Christmas’ meal for the next day. He offered to help her, but she dismissed him, telling him that he shouldn’t worry about anything, it was his birthday after all. He rolled his eyes because it was the same every year, she would never let him do anything, but, yeah, at least on his birthday he could chill and spend the day watching telly with his sisters.

As he walked down the hallway back to the living room, he heard a weird noise coming from the front door. He walked slowly to see a small piece of paper making its way from the crack underneath it. He jolted when the piece of paper flew in his direction, stepping backwards with every advance the paper would give towards him.

The paper made an abrupt move in the air and suddenly was plastered against Louis’ face, with him seeing nothing in front of him. He gasped as he held the piece against his face and finally took it in his hand, looking around to see if anyone had seen what had just happened. Apparently, his mother was still entertained in the kitchen and the girls hadn’t moved from their spot in front of the TV.

He looked at the paper suspiciously at first. Really, what the fuck. For a moment Louis thought he had gone mental, then he remembered that yeah, his sister was a witch, so nothing else in his life could be any weirder than that… but also, his sister couldn’t practice magic outside of Hogwarts, so it couldn’t be Lottie messing around with him...

There was only another wizard Louis knew who could do magic outside Hogwarts and that actually knew his house.

He looked again at the paper, examining it. The part that he was holding facing him had nothing written on it, so he turned it around to find the handwriting he had practically memorized every curve and every cross or dot.

_I’m outside. I have a surprise for you. Please come out, it’s actually freezing. I’m by your mother’s car._

_H xx_

Louis froze on his spot. Ok then. Harry was outside his house, waiting for him. He had a surprise for Louis. On Louis’ birthday. Harry was there.

Now that was something.

He ran his hand through his fringe, jittering with excitement and also nervousness. How long had Harry been there? Was he already there when Louis entered his house? Had he been waiting Louis to come back to let him know he was there? Fucking hell, Louis wanted to move and run outside and meet Harry but his legs weren’t cooperating.

He looked once again around him to see if anyone had noticed what happened, but the house seemed as normal as it had been a minute before. He glanced back at the note in his hand and breathed heavily. He couldn’t let Harry waiting outside, he had to go and talk to him.

Louis finally managed to make his legs move again, shoving Harry’s note inside his jeans pocket and went to get his coat he had just hung on the coat rack, fetching his keys from the key holder. At the sound of the jingly keys, his mother poked her head out from kitchen door.

“You leaving again, Lou?”

“Oh, I- yes,” he tried not to sound too suspicious, putting on his coat and slipping on his shoes again. “Er, Stan texted me, he forgot to give me something…” He ruffled his hair, trying to put it back on place before putting his hat on.

“You think you’ll be back before dinner?” She smiled at him.

“I don’t know. I guess so, it shouldn’t take long.” He didn’t know how long he would stay outside with Harry or what they would actually do. It didn’t matter, he just wanted to stop his mother from asking questions and finally go outside.

“Alright, let me know if you’re staying over there longer,” she went back inside the kitchen and Louis breathed relieved, putting on his gloves and finally opening the front door.

The snow was falling very softly on the ground, making a very thin, white layer on it. It usually didn’t snow on his birthday, but that winter had been a cold one, so they were expecting a lot of snow towards the end of the year.

He stepped outside and closed the door behind him, inhaling deeply and already looking in the direction of his mother’s car, spotting a figure leaning against it.

He started walking towards Harry. Harry, with a big and thick white scarf around his neck, wearing a black coat over a white jumper and aubergine trousers; his hair with small snowflakes and his cheeks flushed from the cold as he rubbed his gloved hands one against the other.

“Hey there, curly,” Louis called, stepping in front of Harry. The boy looked up at him, actually beaming and Louis couldn’t help but do the same.

“Hi, Lou, happy birthday,” Harry said as he let his hands fall to his side, his shoes brushing against the tip of Louis’, quickly embracing him in a hug and God, even through his thick layers of clothes, Louis could feel how warm Harry was.

“Thanks,” he managed to say, a little taken aback by Harry’s sudden move, as he held the boy back.

“I’m sorry to appear like this,” Harry let go of the embrace, still with one hand on Louis’ shoulder.

“Oh, don’t be. I really liked it. A nice surprise to see you here. Always welcomed,” Louis smiled as he looked at Harry’s green eyes, shining more than he ever remembered.

Harry chuckled and squeezed Louis’ shoulder, letting go of him and distancing himself a little. “I thought it would be, you know, since, uh, we’ve talked about meeting during the Holidays before? I thought coming here on your birthday would probably be the best time to do it.”

“’Course, yeah,” Louis felt his cheek flush as Harry had remembered their letters conversations, even though at King’s Cross they had basically said they’d see each other only in the new year. What could have possibly changed the boy’s mind? “Definitely a nice thing to do, thanks! When I thought my birthday couldn’t get better,” Louis put his hand inside the pocket of his coat, looking at Harry with warm eyes. “I thought I wouldn’t get any more presents today, but here you are.”

Louis could see Harry scrunching up his nose to suppress his face from smiling even bigger. “You think I’m the gift?” Harry arched a brow at him, laughing. “I feel honoured that I’m that special, but, well, then I guess you’re getting more than what you bargained for today.”

“Oh, yeah?” Louis tilted his head, intrigued.

“I said I had a surprise for you.”

“Yes, you did and I thought you were the surprise, weren’t you?”

“Maybe I should’ve said I had a double surprise then.”

“Oh,” Louis wasn’t expecting Harry to do anything else for him. “What is it? Do you wanna go inside? It’s starting to snow harder, we shouldn’t stand here in the cold like this,” Louis turned his head in the direction of the house, wishing to get out of the cold and make Harry stay a little bit longer.

“I don’t want to interrupt your family, and,” Harry stepped closer to Louis again, “I was hoping we could talk? Alone?”

Louis cleared his throat at that and looked back at Harry, seeing how big his eyes were and how they weren’t just sweet, but also filled with intent.

“Right,” Louis nodded, blinking at Harry. “I just don’t know where we could go? It’s freezing and most things are already closed by now. I don’t want us to stay here outside and freeze to death.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Harry smiled at him, taking a step aside, looking around the street. “I saw there was a little park down the street? Can we go there?”

“I guess so. Still, it’s cold here and…”

“Shh,” Harry simply took Louis with one hand and the other he put inside his coat, fetching his wand from there. “Aren’t you glad I’m a wizard and can protect us from the snow and the cold?” Harry simply waved his wand in Louis’ direction and Louis felt whatever part of his clothes that were already wet from the amount of snow that had fallen on it dry, and after, Harry tapped the tip of his wand on Louis’ coat, whispering “ _Impervius_ ” and suddenly, there wasn’t any more snow falling on his body.

Louis looked from Harry’s wand to his face and only then did he notice that Harry’s clothes were also dry and the snowflakes weren’t falling on him either.

“Wow. This never gets old,” he only managed to say as Harry pocketed his wand inside his coat again and started to walk, dragging Louis along with him, not letting go of his hand.

They walked down Louis’ street to the park Harry had mentioned. The swings and the slide covered with snow, the grass a muddy white.

Harry pulled Louis along close to a bench and again, got his wand from his coat and waved it in the direction of the bench. Louis saw the snow that was there melt and the water that formed disappear. He let go of Harry’s hand to go to the bench, taking one of his gloves off to actually touch the bench and see that it was completely dry.

“Are you a wizard or God?” Louis looked behind to see Harry staring at him.

“Last time I checked, only a wizard,” Harry chuckled and moved his wand, protecting the bench from the falling snowflakes. The boy then sat on it and looked at Louis, indicating with his head for him to sit on the spot beside him.

Louis slipped his hand again inside his glove and sat beside Harry, who turned his body a little to face Louis better.

“So…” Louis said as Harry kept only smiling at him.

“So,” he breathed deeply and put his wand inside his coat once again, his hand fumbling a little in his pocket to take a package out, one too big to fit inside any normal coat.

“What the fuck, where did it come from?” Louis’ eyes bulged and Harry laughed.

“I charmed my coat to make it fit in there.”

“Magic wand, magic clothes, magic boy. I guess the magic really never ends,” Louis gave him a pointed look and Harry only chuckled, shaking his head, and Louis could see the dimple on his cheek appear. He couldn’t help himself but poke his gloved finger on it, making Harry laugh again.

“Everything about me is magical, apparently,” the boy answered, blinking slowly at Louis, which made him lose a little bit of focus on what he could say next.

“I couldn’t disagree with that, Curls,” he confessed, brushing one hand on Harry’s hair.

Harry looked at Louis with blazing eyes, but quickly turned his attention back to the package in his hand. Louis looked at it again, noticing it was a rectangle shaped thing, wrapped in a white paper, with a golden bow on top of it.

“This,” Harry handed Louis the package, “is the other part of my surprise,” he smiled up as Louis took the package in his hand. “I had intended to give it to you at King’s Cross, but I forgot, sorry. So, happy birthday again, I hope you enjoy my gift.”

Louis was staring at the gift and he couldn’t believe any of that was real, that Harry had apparated at his house on his birthday, on Christmas’ Eve, just to give him a birthday gift.

“I… I don’t even…” Louis shook his head, looking from the package to Harry, who was simply staring back at him, eagerness in his eyes.

“Open it.”

Louis cleared his throat and nodded. He took off one of his gloves again so he could rip the wrapping better, a little too eager, taking the golden bow to put on Harry’s head and making them both giggle. Louis looked back at what had been revealed with curiosity, taking two books in both his hands.

“What’s…?” He turned them around.

“Do you like them?”

Louis didn’t look up at Harry. He only kept looking at the books, taking in what they were. One of them had some theatre masks on the front, written “Drama Culture and Theatrical Performance for Wizards” on the top and below the initials  _W.A.D.A_ with “ _Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts”_ written in parenthesis below it. The other book had a green cover, with a yellow ball that had two wings, and above it, “Quidditch Through The Years” written and “Kennilworthy Whisp” below it.

Louis was completely and utterly shocked with what he was holding in his hands. Books about wizarding stuff. One about Drama and one about Quidditch. Was Harry even allowed to do that? Sharing Wizard knowledge so easily with a Muggle like him? And to choose exactly what would reflect the Wizarding World’s view on the subjects Louis adored, Drama and Sports. An insight into Harry’s world from a point of view of Louis’ interests, such a thoughtful gift.

“Lou? Don’t you like them?” Harry’s voice brought Louis’ back to the present, making him finally look up at him. He saw Harry with his brows knitted, a tension in his eyes.

“Harry, this is– this– I can’t believe,” Louis laughed and placed the books on his lap. “You’re not from this world, literally, you are not,” he shook his head, still laughing, but the confusion in Harry’s face didn’t disappear.

“Fuck,” Louis voiced and moved closer to Harry, his knees bumping with the boy’s thighs.

“Louis, I’m not following,” Harry shook his head, taking out the bow from his head to fumble with it in his hands, “are you happy or not with the gifts? I’m sorry if they are wizard’s books, I just thought you’d–”

“Harry,” Louis interrupted his rambling, putting his hands, one gloved and the other not, on Harry’s cheeks, which made Harry look at Louis, surprised. “These books, they are perfect. This is amazing. You’re amazing,” Louis said, not afraid of voicing his feelings, “and now I get why you’re Mr. Perfect,” Harry giggled at that and Louis caressed Harry’s cheek with his bare thumb. “Can I even have them? I mean, I’m just a muggle, I’m no wizard, I’m not special and–”

“You are special, Louis,” Harry cut Louis off, making him gulp at the compliment. “I don’t know what makes you so special, but you are, and I want to understand you, and I want you to understand me, because I know we are from different worlds, but, Merlin, Louis, I don’t want that to be in the way…” Harry moved closer to Louis, gloved hands moving to hold Louis’ wrists, rubbing his thumbs over Louis’ layered skin.

“In the way of what?” Louis could feel Harry’s warm breath against his skin, anticipation tingling down his spine with how close they were, noses almost bumping, Harry's green irises looking intensively at Louis as he held him by the wrist.

“In the way of me doing this,” Harry whispered before closing the distance between them, pressing his lips against Louis’.

Louis only closed his eyes at the touch, savouring the gentle press of Harry’s lips on his, tilting his head to the side a little to make their heads fit perfectly. He gave in into the touch, parting his lips a little to nibble at Harry’s bottom lip, which made Harry smile, giving a small lick to Louis’ lips as if asking to deepen the kiss as they both wanted to.

They were in a park, at the end of Louis’ street, with snow falling around them, in the cold of Christmas’ Eve, on Louis’ Birthday, kissing as if none of that and nothing else mattered.

And it didn’t.

Louis knew that kissing Harry wouldn’t be something ordinary and he cursed himself for not doing it sooner, when they had the chance. But it was worth the while, Goddamn it if it wasn’t.

Harry moved one of his hands from Louis’ wrist to rest it on the junction of Louis’ neck with his jaw, bringing him closer, as if it was possible. The kiss wasn’t rushed, but Louis could feel Harry’s desperation to taste him more, to feel him more and he knew Harry had been longing for that kiss as much as he had.

“Harry…” Louis moaned his name as Harry bit Louis’ lip slightly, then pecking him once, twice, three times.

“You have no idea how much I’ve waited for this,” Harry rested his forehead against Louis’ and Louis only kept rubbing his thumb along Harry’s cheekbones, their whispers a soft voicing of so many months longing for each other.

“If you have been waiting for this for as long as I have, then I can tell you it’s been almost 5 months,” Louis laughed.

“I should’ve kissed you there, at your doorstep that day. I don’t know why I–”

“Hey,” Louis put his hand under Harry’s chin, placing a kissing on the corner of his mouth and going down to his jaw line, kissing him just under his chin, “we didn’t and that’s alright. It would’ve been nice to have kissed you there, but it wouldn’t be this special.”

“I’ve actually wanted to kiss you way before that,” Harry giggled, leading his other hand to rest on Louis’ waist.

“Oh, yeah?” Louis moved from kissing his neck to nuzzling Harry’s cheekbone, “Well, in that case, I can say that so have I.”

Harry distanced himself a little, letting Louis’ lip ghost over where his face was. “Seriously?”

“Harold, I probably wanted to kiss you the first time you sent me a letter, but as I couldn’t…”

“Well, then now we don’t have to wait anymore,” Harry brought their lips together again, squeezing Louis’ waist, moving his hand resting on his face up to his hair, removing his beanie and tangling his hand on his locks.

Louis let Harry kiss him again, cherishing what was probably the best thing that had happened to him in a long time.

“You lied, though,” Louis said as he broke their kiss, making Harry look at him confused.

“What? When? I might have not told you how I felt, but–”

“Jesus Harry, you do have ways with your mouth, both when you’re kissing and talking,” Louis laughed, giving Harry’s lips a quick peck. “That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the fact that you lied just a moment ago.”

Harry furred his brows. “What are you even talking about?”

“You said before that you had a double surprise for me, when in reality it’s three now. Don’t tell me you didn’t come here expecting not to kiss me,” Louis quirked his lips in a smirk.

Harry rubbed his nose against Louis’. “Can’t say that I didn’t.”

“Harry Styles, a wizard full of surprises. Should I expect for more surprises like this in the future?” Louis asked, earnestly, because fuck, there was no way he would let Harry go away after all that. He didn’t know how they would make them work, but now that Louis had him in his arms, he wouldn’t let him get away that easily. He had pined for too long.

“I mean, if you’d like,” Harry shrugged, shyly.

“I would more than like that,” Louis pinched his cheek where his dimple was showing. “I just don’t know how this would work, though.”

Louis could see the moment Harry’s eyes started to shine even brighter. “I can visit you on weekends, I can always leave Hogwarts and apparate wherever you are.”

Louis might have felt his heart skip a beat for a second because he couldn’t believe what Harry was saying. He was really willing to make it work, to leave Hogwarts to see Louis, to be with him.

“Can you?” Louis asked, just to make sure that Harry meant it. “I mean, do you want to?”

“Of course I do. Louis, I wouldn’t have come all the way here just to steal a kiss from you and leave you again.”

“Good, because I wasn’t letting you go like that either,” Louis kissed Harry again, as he seemed unable to stop doing so.

Fuck, not in his wildest dream did Louis imagine that any of this could happen. Louis was sure that having Harry there, kissing him endlessly and saying that he wanted them to be together, was more than he ever wished for his birthday and for Christmas.

It might have been a little terrifying for how fast things had happened, but it was time to give them a chance. Goddamn it if they didn’t try.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to Vic for the help with Harry's lake photo <3


	6. Third Year (February - April 2012)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long to post this! But it's finally here! Happy 2017 :)
> 
> Warning: this chapter contains smut and we added the angst no one asked for, you're welcome.

**February, 2012**

 

When Harry apparated at Louis’ house on the boy’s birthday, he knew he wasn’t going to be leaving the place empty handed – so to speak. He went there with a purpose, knowing what he wanted, who he wanted.

What he didn’t know, though, was that staying with Louis on a small park on the corner of Louis’ street, kissing him endlessly for what felt like hours as the snow kept falling around them, would lead him to show up at Louis’ house almost every day before he had to go back to Hogwarts. He didn’t know he would be so addicted, too needy to having Louis near him. He almost felt mental for how much he wanted him and he tried his best not to feel like he was suffocating Louis, but every time he appeared and Louis would open his arms to him, embrace and kiss him, hidden in a place somewhere near his house, he knew that Louis wanted that as much as he did.

Kissing Louis was everything he had dreamed of and more. And it just seemed right, they just seemed to click, to fit into each other, not only with the kissing part, but being with each other, with Louis making him laugh, teasing him and making him feel like the rest of the world didn’t matter when they were together; and Harry’s heart ached when they had to be apart, aching even more when their almost daily encounters for basically two weeks had to be cut short with Louis going back to London and Harry to Hogwarts.

Being away from Louis while at Hogwarts was one of the problems, but one that they easily found a solution. Harry didn’t back down from what he had suggested just as they shared their first kiss. He wanted to stay with Louis, even more now that he knew how much he liked him, so sparing some free time on his weekends to go visit Louis in London was something both of them had quickly agreed on. The other problem, though, was how they were going to deal with other people knowing about it, namely one called Lottie.

It was not that they didn’t want to tell her, but well, they hadn’t yet, and every time Harry visited Louis, it was in secret. They liked to enjoy their time together away from others; they enjoyed now having a new little secret to keep. Maybe Harry wanted to keep it like that until he knew where they were heading. He already knew that if Louis wanted it as much as him, he would go for it, he was willing to be in it for the long run with Louis, but for now… he was content to have Louis only for him in their own bubble. And also, how would they explain them being together out of the blue? Maybe as they went, they would figure out something to tell her.

And as time passed, with Harry sneaking out of Hogwarts on the weekends to meet Louis (and with Niall teasing him nonstop about it), January had gone away. It seemed surreal that he would spend his Saturdays or sometimes Sundays with the boy, with Louis taking him to have lunch at some restaurants or simply cafés near his campus, or somewhere around the city.

There was this time when Louis took Harry to Hyde Park, where they walked around and sat on a bench, observing the people going on about their lives, with Louis pointing at them telling Harry the ones he thought who secretly looked like wizards. Harry snorted every time because of Louis’ comments, especially about people’s clothes ( _“I’ve noticed you wizards wear some weird stuff, really. What’s up with still dressing up like the eighteenth century? Look at that guy’s coat, it looks like he hasn’t taken that out of his wardrobe since the 80s, clearly a wizard”)._

Or the other time when Louis took him to the London Eye and Harry could see almost the whole city from there, the Parliament right in front of them with the Big Ben, the River Thames and all the boats and the bridges along the river. Harry was simply baffled by the view and the only thing he could do, besides marvelling at it, was to kiss Louis for all the while they were still at the top of the Ferris wheel.

Harry’s favourite moments with Louis though, were the ones when they would stay at Louis’ Uni flat in between outings. Louis hadn’t told his roommate about Harry yet, so Louis would always have to make up an excuse for Liam to stay away when Harry would go there to spend some alone time. Sometimes Louis would show Harry his books from college, or would let him play some more video games as Harry had been eager to learn more about those. Nothing would compare though, to when it was just the two of them, sitting on Louis’ couch kissing, or to the first time Louis finally took Harry to his bedroom – in more ways than one.

If Harry was the one to advance on Louis and have the older boy pinned down on his own bed as Harry kissed the extension of his torso – after Louis had already taken off his shirt – going  down and sucking him off after unzipping his trousers, Louis didn’t seem to mind, and was very happy to return the favour to Harry just minutes later.

Louis was sweet to Harry, not seeming to rush anything, and Harry accepted that. He wouldn’t want to rush anything either, he was content that they were doing things that way. He had never had someone like that before, who seemed just as glad to spend time with him on and off a bed. Louis was caring and Harry appreciated that, appreciated the time they were getting to know each other better. They hadn’t talked about doing anything further than handjobs and blowjobs – as many times as they could, really, exploring each other and what the other liked, how they clicked, the build up as satisfying as what was to come.  

Harry left Louis at his dorm on the last Sunday of January, a couple of days before his birthday, after having spent the whole weekend with him (he was counting on Niall to keep his mouth shut to everyone – Lottie, for that matter – who would ask where he had gone for yet another weekend), promising the boy to be back on the next one. Louis was much reluctant to let him go, almost begging Harry to show up on Wednesday so he could give him a proper gift on his birthday. Harry felt his stomach swirl at the thought of what Louis would want to give him, as they already seemed to spend their time doing all the cool stuff Harry could think of.

Harry hooked his arms around Louis’ neck, kissing him quickly, biting his bottom lip before looking into his eyes.

“I’ll be back on Saturday, it won’t take long.” He kissed Louis’ cheek as he stepped away from the boy.

“Ugh, that _is_ too long. I wanted to be with you on your birthday. C’mon Harry, can’t you just skip one day of class?” Louis pouted at Harry, searching his lips again, and giving him a quick peck.

Harry held Louis’ face with both hands, smiling at him, brushing their noses together. “I can’t just disappear from school like that, sorry. I promise I can make it up to you staying over the weekend if you can kick Liam out from your dorm again.”

“Hmm,” Louis considered as Harry saw him licking his lips and smirked at him. “I’m running out of ideas on what to say to him, but if you’re really up to making it up to me, then I can push your surprise to the weekend and also find something for Liam to d—”

“Surprise?” Harry cut him off, quirking a brow, intrigued.

“Yeah,” Louis laughed, “you’re not the only one who can make a nice surprise on someone’s birthday, Mr. Sneaky Wizard,” he poked Harry on his dimple and Harry giggled before kissing him again, promising mentally that it would be the last time before he had to head back to Hogwarts.

Waiting for the next weekend to come was making Harry even more nervous than the wait for his 18th birthday. February 1st arrived with him having birthday cake for breakfast, some nice presents from his family through Owl mail, some others from Niall, Lottie and other friends, and also a letter from Louis.

_Dear Haz,_

_Happy Birthday!_

_I hope you have an incredible day there at Hogwarts, although I suppose spending your birthday studying and having to take care of some brats as students is not the ideal, but hey, you were the one who ditched me today to spend your day like this, so, you take what you can…_

_Kidding, love!_

_I wish you all the amazing things you could have (considering you are a wizard, I don’t think that’s actually hard for you to accomplish) and that all your dreams come true, Harry. You are very special and I know you will achieve everything you seek in life. You are becoming a wonderful wizard and you are meant for bigger things, H, I’m sure of this._

_I’m sad that I can’t spend the day with you, though :(_

_When will Hogwarts allow muggles to visit the place? That’s really unfair, just so you know… because then, I could be the one paying you a visit this time, as I might miss you already. But I guess I can wait a few more days to see you. Really looking forward to it. I hope you are too._

_Happy 18_ _th_ _birthday, again, Harry._

_See you on Saturday! :)_

_Yours sincerely,_

_Lou xx_

Harry kept the letter inside his robe the whole day and whenever he could, he would look at the paper and reread Louis’ words, even if they weren’t much. If Harry couldn’t have Louis right there with him, then his letter would make Harry feel at least a little closer to him and he only hoped the rest of the week would go by fast enough so he could see the boy again.

*

Harry apparated at his usual spot at the square near Louis’ flat on Saturday late afternoon and as expected, there was Louis already waiting for him at their usual bench, wearing a black coat with white fur, with a baby blue jumper under it, and light beige trousers. The weather wasn’t that cold for February and Harry was almost dressed up the same, as he had found himself wearing some not-so-wizardry clothes to blend in with Louis whenever he visited him.

Louis smiled up at him when he saw Harry coming closer and Harry knew he had the same smile on his face just as Louis stood up and without hesitating led his hand up to Harry’s face, caressing it just the slightest before locking his lips with Harry’s in a brief kiss.

“Hey you Mr. 18-year-old Wizard, how are you doing? Feeling old already?” Louis laughed as he moved to kiss Harry on the cheek to greet him.

Harry chuckled, “nah, I’m good, and you?” He embraced Louis by the waist with his free hand, the other holding his rucksack, as he also kissed Louis on the cheek before looking for the older boy’s mouth again, now not only going for a closed mouth kiss, but licking inside Louis’ mouth, which made him release an unexpected moan inside Harry’s.

“Much better now,” Louis broke the kiss to seal their lips one last time before taking Harry’s rucksack in his hands and hooking it over his own shoulder, and slipping his hands into Harry’s, intertwining their fingers. It shouldn’t startle him that Louis liked to hold his hand, and he should be used to it by now, but everything with Louis still gave him the jitters, so maybe he should be used to feeling like a 12-year-old when it came to him.

“That’s what I was hoping for,” Harry smiled down at their hands together and looked up at Louis again to see him with his crinkled eyes, “so, what are we doing today?”

Harry could pretend he wasn’t anxious about what Louis had planned for them that day, but he decided that, fuck it, he had been thinking about it for a whole week now, he wasn’t going to waste more time being nervous about it.

“Eager much, ay?” Louis chuckled, “stop wanting to spoil it, you’ll find out as we go.” Louis touched the tip of Harry’s nose, making him scrunch it up. “You could at least pretend you’re happy about seeing me, not only about my surprise.”

“Oh, sorry, my bad. I thought the snog I just gave you was enough to prove it,” Harry arched a brow, distancing himself from Louis a little.

“I reckon there will be more snogging needed to prove it, then,” Louis teased as he fixed Harry’s fringe over his forehead, “unfortunately, we’ll have to wait a bit for that though, because we should already be going,” Louis pulled Harry by the hand, making them start walking.

At first, Harry thought Louis was simply walking them back to his flat, where he was more than happy to head to, but when Louis didn’t make them turn on his street, Harry noticed they were actually going to the underground station they had used to go to the west side of London before.

“Are we going to Hyde Park again?” Harry asked as they got inside the station, passing through the turnstiles.

“You think I’d be that much of an unromantic person and take you there again?” Louis looked at Harry pointedly, “besides, at Hyde Park I can’t buy you a gift. Oh, by the way, haven’t said this in person already, have I? Happy birthday,” Louis kissed Harry’s cheek as he led them to the platform, “but if you want to go to Hyde Park, we could, I just don’t know what for.”

“Thanks,” Harry replied, squeezing Louis’s hand, “Oh, no, I just– don’t mind me, it’s your surprise. You planned this, so…”

Louis beamed at him and pecked his lips.

“I thought there wasn’t going to be any snogging soon.”

“I’m feeling quite generous now, plus, the platform is a little empty so,” Louis simply smirked and kissed Harry again, looping his arm around his neck.

The whole ride on the tube they kept sharing little caresses and Harry didn’t even notice they were about to reach their designated station with Louis distracting him. It was a little trick Louis always did to distract Harry, since the first time they rode on the tube together he was scared shitless and Louis had caught up on that. Harry got used to it the next ones, but he wouldn’t tell the boy that, because he wouldn’t mind being coddled a little longer.

They stepped outside Oxford Circus station and Harry was met with an eerily familiar street full of people enjoying their Saturday, local folk and tourists running errands there. Harry hadn’t been around muggles that much before he started going out with Louis, and even for the few times he had since then, he was still amazed by all those things around him.

“Come on, Haz,” Louis pulled Harry’s hand, making the boy unfreeze from his overwhelmed state and start walking again, “people might run over you if we stand still like this. Let’s get going, we have plenty of stuff to look at.”

Harry nodded as he let Louis drag him down the street, entering many stores, both boys jokingly pointing what they would buy for each other, but Louis never seemed satisfied with anything until he slowed their pace and pondered on a particular one.

“What do you think?” He asked, before mumbling to himself, dragging a confused Harry inside by the arm, “Yes, yes, I think it should do.”

The place smelled incredible, much like Harry remembered Madam Primpernelle's Beautifying Potions shop smelling like, all sweet and floral. Suddenly, there was a saleswoman approaching them, asking if they needed help to find anything or if they wanted to try a new product that Harry was sure the woman had said it “ _would help your mum look like she’s 25 again!_ ”. Harry only saw Louis shaking his head and pulled him along further into the shop, making Harry realise that they were in fact inside a muggle beauty and healthy shop – Superdrug, Harry could now see the name of the store.

“Right,” Louis stopped in a halt and turned to face Harry, “I know this place doesn’t look romantic at all and that a walk in Hyde Park would seem much more appropriate to spend the rest of the afternoon, but,” Louis sighed, “I really spent a long time thinking about what to get you for your birthday and I think I found it.”

“You didn’t have to. Just spending the day with you would be fine,” Harry interrupted, which made Louis roll his eyes.

“Shush, just listen ok?” Louis laughed slightly, taking both Harry’s hands in his. “I brought you here so you could take a look at busy London, my muggle day by day. Meanwhile, I was trying to find you a gift good enough for your birthday, but nothing seemed quite right. I already had something in mind and yeah, I think you’ll like it.”

“I’m kinda lost on what we could possibly find here, but ok?” Harry laughed, shaking his head.

“I’m really hoping you won’t be disappointed,” Louis squeezed his hands, before letting go of them. “So, now, if you wouldn’t mind, Harold, I kindly ask you to close your eyes, will ya?”

Harry looked confused for a second but complied immediately. “What for?”

“Christ, do you even know what a surprise means?” He heard Louis stepping beside him and suddenly he felt Louis hand covering his eyes. “Just making sure you don’t cheat,” Louis’ voice came from behind, his warm breath hitting his neck, a shiver crawling down his spine. “Now, take one step ahead at a time, please.”

Harry followed the instructions, laughing, as Louis guided him from behind, directing him through the aisles.

“Ok, you can stop now and turn to me without opening your eyes,” Louis took his hands from Harry’s face. Harry kept his eyes shut and turned around, feeling Louis step a little closer to him. “Good boy, now open them.”

When Harry did, Louis’ face was practically glued to his, the tip of their noses touching and Louis with both his hands on the side of their heads, preventing Harry from looking anywhere.

“You really don’t trust me?” Harry asked, arching a brow at Louis.

“Just making sure you don’t spoil anything, but, alright, that’s enough. I’ll just step aside and you can look, ok?” Louis laughed one last time before he moved away from Harry’s sight.

Harry wanted to keep laughing because he could notice Louis was a bit nervous, wanting every little detail of his surprise to work, whatever it was. He then looked around, seeing shelves and shelves filled with so many different colours of nail polish.

“Right, tell me this is not the most idiotic thing I’ve ever thought of.” Louis’ voice came from behind Harry, making him blink quickly at the nail polish shelf before turning to Louis.

“No, Louis, this is awesome.” Harry shook his head, stepping closer to Louis, without even giving space for the boy to back down, as he held Louis’ face in his hand.

Louis only shrugged and gave him a lopsided smile. “I mean, you looked gorgeous after Lottie painted your nails and she told me she tried to do them again at Hogwarts some time ago? I could only imagine what you looked like with a different colour on them, so, I thought you’d like–”

Harry didn’t let Louis finish what he was saying, as he locked their lips together, which made Louis giggle into the kiss.

“Harry, please, there’s people around,” Louis breathed as he broke the kiss.

“I don’t mind,” Harry brushed his nose against Louis’ cheek. “Blimey, Lou, this is great. Yeah, yeah, I loved it. Gonna look real pretty for you.”

“I feel relieved now, I thought I was being really stupid.”

“No, not stupid at all,” Harry stepped away from Louis, to look him better in the eye, “sweet, very sweet, best gift ever,” he pecked Louis’ lips again.

“Well, if you think so, go on then, choose some for yourself. You can have any you want.” Louis smiled at him and Harry could see his blue eyes shining. He kissed Louis’ cheek and stepped closer to the shelf to examine the nail polishes.

Harry was lost at the colours and types options he could have, but he didn’t hesitate to choose simple colours such as black, bordeaux, blue, green and pink, and also, his favourites, some glitter ones. Louis appeared with a small basket beside him, so he deposited the items there and smiled at him.

“You boys doing alright here?” A woman approached them, dressed up just like the one that had talked to them as they entered the store, probably another salesperson. “Choosing some nail polish for the girlfriends?”

At that, both boys looked at the woman, confused. “No, no girlfriends, we were–” Louis tried to answer but the woman quickly spoke over him again.

“The sisters then?” Her face was very friendly; she didn’t seem to actually notice what they were doing there.

“Uh, no, it’s for me, actually,” Harry said, Louis stepping beside him, squeezing his arm, smiling.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize…” He could see the sorry look on her face as she noticed what was going on. “That’s nice! So nice! You helping him choose?” She looked at Louis, kindly, “what a supportive boyfriend you have.” She looked back at Harry.

Harry blinked fast and gulped as he felt Louis’ hand squeeze him harder and Harry didn’t know what to reply.

“Yeah, thanks,” Louis said before Harry could actually think of anything, only smiling at the woman and releasing Harry’s arm.

“If you boys need any help, just hit me up. I see you picked some beautiful colours there, love, they’ll look great on you.” She smiled at them again as they nodded and she left.

Harry was stuck there without actually knowing what to do, looking down at the basket in his hands with the nail polish. He was probably blushing; he could feel it, as he thought of what she had said about them.

“Right, you’re gonna choose anything else?” Louis’ called him and his voice didn’t have any trace of being affected by what had just happened. If he was going to ignore that, so could Harry.

“No, I think I’m good, these are fine.” Harry finally looked up at Louis and he noticed the other boy had flushed cheeks too. Ok, so they were really pretending nothing had happened.

“Those are nice ones, Harry,” Louis said as he took the red bottle in his hand, “if you’d like, I can paint your nails when we get home. I’d like to pamper you a little.” Louis smiled up at him.

“You? Painting my nails?” Harry asked, skeptically.

“Excuse me, between the two of us, who has four younger sisters?” Louis tilted his head. “I’m a master on the beauty department, Harry, please. You’ll notice I have the gift to be a manicurist after playing beauty salon for years.”

“Right,” Harry laughed, imagining all the crazy stuff Louis’ sister must’ve put him through. “Ok, I think I can handle you painting my nails then.”

“Good, it’s settled then!” Louis took the basket from Harry’s hand, starting to walk down the aisle. “Now, let’s pay these and continue your birthday spree.”

“There’s more?” Harry questioned, walking beside him.

“You thought I was done?” Louis arched a brow at him. “I may not be the best surprise planner in the world, but I know better than to do just this lame thing.”

“This wasn’t lame,” Harry interrupted, beaming at him, “it was lovely, really lovely. Thank you by the way,” he kissed Louis’ cheek.

“You’re welcome. Glad you liked it,” Louis got Harry’s hand in his. “But I hope you’ll enjoy our next stop better.”

They left Superdrug and the sky was already dark outside, with the chill wind cutting through their faces. They walked for a while down Oxford Street, window-shopping more stores, and then Louis started to lead them a few blocks away, until they stopped at a nice restaurant. Harry found out that Louis had actually made a reservation for them and he couldn’t stop feeling his heart burst with how thoughtful Louis had been, with everything he had planned to do with and for Harry that day.

The restaurant was really nice; it wasn’t a posh one, it was very simple actually, but cosy and lovely nonetheless. They had pasta and dessert, and kept talking for a couple of hours before heading back to Louis’ flat.

It didn’t feel like they had spent so much time out, but when they arrived at Louis’ it was nearly 8 pm. They stopped first at a Tesco store to buy things to eat later and for breakfast the next day as Harry was sleeping over. Harry was overjoyed Liam decided to go visit his parents that weekend, without Louis even needing to ask him to spend the weekend away.

As they were watching a movie after a few snuggles on the couch, Louis started to paint Harry’s nails. Harry let Louis choose what colour to use and Louis went with the bordeaux one. Louis was really careful as he did Harry’s nails, his tongue sticking out in concentration as not to mess up the polish and Harry couldn’t think of anything cuter.

“Right, one hand is done,” Louis said as he put the brush inside the bottle again.

“Ok, I really have to give it to you, you are a proper manicurist. These look great!” Harry opened his right hand in front of him to take a better look at it, wiggling his newly painted fingers.

“Please be careful not to mess up my work, let them dry first,” Louis pouted and Harry only laughed.

“Well, drying it won’t be a problem,” Harry turned to fumble on his coat that was left on the other end of the couch, fetching his wand from there. He used his left hand to swish his wand on his right hand’s direction.

“Right, I had forgotten how you guys can solve everything with a flick of your wand,” Louis rolled his eyes.

“It’s just practical, you know. See, now I won’t mess anything,” Harry put his wand in his jeans’ back pocket and turned his hand to Louis. “Really, don’t tell Lottie, you do paint nails better than she does.”

Louis chortled and took Harry’s painted hand in his, “well, what can I say? I’m very talented, look how beautiful your hand looks. Not that it wasn’t before, but now,” he kissed Harry’s knuckles, and then went to Harry’s pinkie, “it looks,” he said as he kissed its fingertip, “even,” he went to Harry’s ring finger, doing the same, “more,” his middle finger, “gorgeous,” his index finger, “utterly,” and finally his thumb, “beautiful.”

Harry was possibly not breathing at the vision in front of him. He felt his stomach swirl with the way Louis was gently kissing the tips of his fingers.

“Lou…” Harry begged in a rough voice, which made Louis look from Harry’s hand to his face. Intention was clear in Louis’ eyes, just as he started sucking on his middle finger. It seemed like Harry was in for another birthday gift.

Harry quickly sat himself on Louis’ lap, backing him against the backrest of the couch as he spread his legs on his sides, and licking into the other boy’s mouth, gripping the short hair on the back of his neck, slowly moving his hips against him.

“Christ, Harry,” Louis gasped, kissing him back feverously, letting his hand find Harry’s waist and squeezing it tightly, before moving it down Harry’s jumper thirsty for skin on skin contact.

This wasn’t new. They had made out countless times on the couch, but today held a promise of more. He wasn’t feeling like this would lead to Louis putting his hand inside his trousers and jerking Harry off, or with Harry slipping down the couch, getting on his knees and sucking Louis off. He didn’t want that at that moment. He desperately needed more.

He could feel himself getting hard and he tried to find a way to relieve that, grinding against Louis’ hips, looking for more friction, passing an idea of exactly what he wanted.

“Harry... Haz,” Louis panted against Harry’s mouth, “babe, you are…” Louis moved one of his hands to the front of Harry’s trousers, “fuck Harry, you’re already hard,” Louis’ lips left Harry’s mouth to kiss his jaw and go down on his neck, “let me,” he started to unbuckle Harry’s belt with one hand.

“No,” Harry held Louis’ hand, which made the older boy back away to give him a confused look. “I don’t want…” Harry bit his bottom lip.

“You don’t?” The expression on Louis’ face was of worry now. Harry shook his head, tangling his hand on Louis’ locks.

“I don’t want a blowie.” Harry said, looking directly into Louis’ eyes, holding his face with his hand. “I want you,” he whispered, the hand on Louis’ face slipping down to the boy’s chest, quickly to Louis’ bulge, “to fuck me.”

Louis gasped astonished, his pupils expanding at the words, a tiny hitch in his breath followed by a shiver.

“Harry,” Louis managed to say in a whisper as Harry massaged his hard on, now kissing him on the lips quickly, then moving to his cheek, his cheekbone, close to his ear.

“I want you so bad, Louis,” Harry panted at Louis’ ear, moving to nibble at the boy’s earlobe.

“Fuck, Harry, yes. Me too. So much,” Louis’ scratched Harry’s back under the jumper, and Harry gave in into the touch, rocking his hips a bit harder against Louis. “Shit, wanted this for so long,” Louis was already breathing heavily as he let his head fall back against the backrest, giving Harry access to his neck, where he started to kiss and suck and bite.

That’s all Harry had wanted to hear. They had been going slow with each other and it was fine, but at night Harry would always fantasize about Louis’ fingers opening him up, the boy fucking him long and sweet or hard and rough, or in any way really. Harry surely enjoyed the feeling of just being with Louis, of lazily snogging and jerking each other off. It was different from his one night stands where getting off was the only goal; spending time with Louis was a reward in itself, though the fucking would come as a welcomed plus.

“Can’t wait anymore, Lou,” Harry said, moving Louis’ jumper a little from his shoulder to suck on his collarbone.

“Sorry for making you wait,” Louis’ voice was a little more serious when he spoke again, “I just wasn’t sure if you’d want it, if you’ve ever–”

“You think I’ve never?” Harry looked up at Louis, a little startled. “Hogwarts is a boarding school.”

Louis held a laughter and shook his head. “Was I supposed to imagine that you have fooled around with wizards inside a castle that has all this antiquated rules and stuff? I just thought, I don’t know…”

“Louis, I’m not a prude.”

“Well, if your blowjobs are anything to go by, I shouldn’t have assumed you’d be the type to wait until marriage to be fucked in the ass.”

Harry only laughed and resumed to kissing Louis’ neck again, earning a moan in return as he sucked on Louis’ Adam’s apple, going back up to his jaw, nibbling at the skin there. “I just went slow, because I thought you were going slow too,” Harry’s mouth found Louis’ again, wetting his lips with his tongue, “and I think that it was better this way, to go slow, to get to know each other first,” Harry bit on Louis’ lip, “to get to know where we can press each other to the edge.” Harry’s hand pulled at Louis’ hair in the back of his neck, his other hand going up Louis’ stomach under his blue jumper. Louis mouthed a “fuck” against Harry’s lips. “But now, I want...” Harry whispered and didn’t wait for any reaction from Louis, only pressing their mouths together and licking his tongue, as he grinded against Louis one more time, who returned the movement.

“Christ Harry,” Louis managed to say as Harry scratched his painted nails against Louis’ chest, finding his nipples and squeezing them, “fuck,” Louis’ entire arm embraced Harry by the waist, getting a better hold of him, making their bodies move even closer, Harry’s hardness against Louis’ through their clothes.

Harry moaned against Louis’ mouth and with that, he felt Louis leaning forward, making Harry fall back a little, but never leaving his mouth and Harry noticed that Louis was trying to gather the strength to get up from the couch, with him still on his lap. Harry quickly took his hand from inside Louis’ jumper and hooked both his arms around his neck, to hold himself there as he wrapped his legs around Louis’ waist when he finally got up.

Louis' hands moved to support Harry by his bum, squeezing it a little, making Harry smile while peppering kisses on Louis’ face. Harry didn’t know if Louis would be able to carry him like that, but the older boy did a good enough job of not letting him fall or making them stumble into any furniture he had on his small living room as he walked towards his bedroom.

They fell onto Louis’ bed, Harry on his back, wiggling himself up on the mattress, Louis' hands were already moving Harry’s jumper up his torso. Harry helped him and quickly took it off, not even letting a second pass to reach for Louis’ own jumper and make the boy take it off too.

“How do you want it?” Louis asked, panting against Harry’s collarbones.

“I want you inside me,” Harry simply replied, with his eyes closed, feeling Louis hands start to work on his trousers, finishing unbuckling it and finally unzipping it.

“Gonna make you feel so good, Haz,” Louis kissed down the extension of Harry’s chest, down his belly, to his navel and finally his groin, as he pushed Harry’s trousers down along with his pants.

Harry felt his cock twitch against his belly, and Louis kissing his length, as he had done so many times before, giving kitten licks at the base.

“So good,” Louis said before sinking down on him and Harry had to hold the duvet on Louis’ bed at the sensation of Louis’ lips working on him. He was sure if Louis was going to start like that, he wasn’t going to last long and he didn’t want that.

He led his hand to Louis’ hair, massaging his scalp. “Louis, please, I’m–”

“Shh, easy,” Louis said, putting his hand on Harry’s stomach and leaving Harry’s cock with a last suck. “I’m not gonna torture you, just wanted to ravish you up a little.”

“You’re gonna kill me, that’s what. Please, just want you,” Harry managed to say as Louis lifted himself, pulling Harry’s trousers completely off. “Wait,” Harry said suddenly before Louis could throw them on the floor. “Get my wand.”

Harry held himself up with his elbows to see Louis’ confused expression. “Why would you need your wand? Don’t tell me you use it to...”

“Good Grief, Louis,” Harry snorted, “no, it’s just practicality, remember?”

“Oh,” Harry could see that Louis wasn’t completely sure about what Harry was saying, but he fetched Harry’s wand from his pocket anyway and threw it in the boy’s stomach. Harry caught it and placed it on Louis’ nightstand and in the two seconds that it took him to do that, Louis was already pulling his own jeans down his legs, stepping out of them on the floor and walking around the bed, going to the same nightstand and opening the drawer, getting a bottle from there.

“Alright, your magical practicality may be useful sometimes, but can we do it my way this time? No magical lube.” Louis kneeled on the bed, already uncapping his bottle and spreading the liquid on his hand.

Harry laughed as he nodded and moved up the mattress a little to settle himself better on the pillows as Louis placed the lube beside Harry’s wand and crawled up on him.

“Good,” he pecked Harry’s lips and just as he was about to pull back, Harry got both his hands on the side of his head, holding him there and deepening the kiss. It had been no less than 2 minutes, but Harry already missed Louis’ touch on him.

“Open up, babe,” Louis said breaking the kiss and touching Harry’s knee with his dry hand, pushing Harry’s legs apart a little. Harry cooperated, spreading his thighs and bending his knees to support his feet on the mattress, as Louis settled himself between his legs.

Harry only closed his eyes at the sensation of Louis’ finger trailing down his arse crack, gently pressing his middle finger on his opening.

“Merlin,” Harry moaned and quickly covered his mouth with his hand as Louis let out a laugh.

“Every time,” Louis joked, kissing Harry’s knee cheekily. Next thing he felt was Louis’ finger entering him slowly.

“Lou,” Harry held Louis’ arm, squeezing it tightly, bringing him closer. Louis pulled his finger out and in again and Harry clenched against it.

“Such a tease,” Louis whispered against Harry’s ear and Harry only hummed.

“Lou, one more, please…”

“Yeah, babe,” Harry was still with his eyes closed, the sensation of Louis nuzzling against his cheekbone as he fingered him slowly, stretching him open, amplified tenfold. Harry could only let little moans out of his mouth.

Louis changed the angle of his fingers, fingertips brushing his prostate and Harry mewled for more. “Louis,” he begged Louis for a kiss, scratching Louis’ back as he pulled him down, “another, more.”

“Are you sure?” Louis pulled away from the kiss and from inside Harry.

“C’mon, I can take one more.” Harry smiled mischievously, and Louis only nodded, kissing him again and inserting three fingers back inside Harry, who cried out at how his arse burned with the fullness. Louis built up a rhythm, in and out, each time deeper, grazing Harry’s spot, making him moan louder and louder.

Harry wanted to ask Louis to stop, afraid he would certainly come in a second. Though he felt so good, that he just let Louis continue to open him up, his cock hurting a bit with how hard it was throbbing between the two of them.

Louis chose for him, pulling away and he almost gasped at the emptiness he felt.

“You still want me inside of you?” Louis teased. “I could swear one more second of this and you would come just with my fingers.”

Harry opened his eyes and bit his bottom lip. “Don’t tease me, Louis,” he managed to speak, moving his hand down Louis’ chest to find his cock, just as hard as his. Harry gripped his fingers around Louis, starting to pump it, slowly, and Louis let out a moan. “I want your cock in me. Now, if you don’t mind.”

“Fuck, Harry. Since you asked so nicely,” Louis brushed Harry’s fringe from his sweaty forehead with his clean hand and started to kiss his cheek, his mouth, with desperate pecks. Harry squeezed Louis’ cock one last time, feeling the precome spilling from the head and Louis lifted himself up from Harry in a halt, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Harry looked confused at Louis as he saw him fumble again inside his drawer and withdraw a small square package, ripping it with his teeth.

“What’s that?” Harry asked, curiously.

“Hm, a condom?” Louis looked at Harry, showing him the package.

“Oh,” realisation hit Harry and, right, he had heard of those.

“What? Harry, don’t tell me you don’t… no,” Louis turned his whole body to face Harry again, “you don’t use it?”

Harry cleared his throat. “We don’t need them. We have spells.”

“Of fucking course,” Louis laughed, shaking his head. “So, hm, you’ve always done it without?”

Harry prompted himself on his elbows, nodding, “it’s the only way we do it.”

“Fuck,” Louis murmured, “that’s hot. I mean, hell, I’ve never done without it, it’s just too…”

“If you want to use it, if that’s how you’re comfortable, I don’t mind,” Harry said, rubbing his hand on Louis’ arm. Louis looked at Harry as if he had just said the craziest thing in his life.

Louis breathed heavily. “No, it’s just, if you’ve never experience sex with a condom, doing with it is going to make you really uncomfortable, and I don’t want to…” he fidgeted with the package in his hand.

Harry could sense the nervousness in Louis. Of course he would be nervous to do without it and of course he would be even more nervous if Harry were to put a spell on his cock.

“I… is it alright, this spell?” Louis asked, a little hesitantly.

“Yeah,” Harry moved a little closer to the edge of the bed, to fetch his wand on the nightstand. “Lou, it’s totally fine, but if you don’t want to do it–”

“Hell no, I’m not backing down, I might explode now,” he laughed faintly, discarding the package and the condom back inside the drawer. “I mean, who knows, this spell might even improve my abilities.”

“That’s not how it works,” Harry laughed as Louis crawled back on the bed.

“That’s what you think,” Louis kissed Harry quickly, “c’mon, magic my dick up,” he smiled down at Harry, making him chuckle and shake his head as he waved his wand in Louis’ direction.

He saw Louis’ looking down at his own cock as if it had suddenly turned into gold and then look back at Harry with a big grin. Harry shook his head one more time before placing his wand back on the nightstand.

“Want to see your face,” Louis said touching Harry’s chin to make the boy look at him, as he positioned himself on top of Harry again. Harry felt his stomach lurch with Louis caressing his cheek with one hand and the other spreading his legs apart again.

Harry nodded and rested one hand on the nape of Louis’ neck, bringing him for a kiss, letting his tongue slip inside Louis’ mouth, finding his.

He thought that would distract him from the feeling of Louis pushing inside of him, but Louis was slow, careful, moving his hip towards Harry’s entrance. Harry could feel the tip of Louis’ cock against his hole, finally pushing inside, drawing a gasp from him, his other hand pulling at Louis’ brown and sweaty locks eagerly.

“Fuck, Harry. So good, so good.”

One of Louis’ hand held Harry by the leg, giving him the impulse he needed to keep pushing inside of him, rocking his own hips, and the other taking Harry’s hand from his hair, intertwining their fingers down on the mattress. The new position gave Louis enough leverage to thrust deeper, leaving Harry helpless to do nothing but moan, watching his hand scratch Louis’ down neck to his back, marking his skin with lines just as red as his painted nails.

Harry’s legs, spread wide around Louis, trembled as he sped up, his thrusts going even harder making both boys moan louder.

Nothing had ever felt like that moment, an indescribable feeling between their small moans, mouths pushed so close by the rhythmic moves between their hips. This was better than any kind of magic he had felt go through his veins. Louis was magical in any possible way and the way he was fucking him relentlessly, holding his hand, kissing him bitingly was driving Harry insane.

Louis broke their kiss to move down to Harry’s neck, sucking there hard, and Harry moved his head a bit to give Louis more access to his neck, fucking himself back into him, always seeking more pleasure. He didn’t even have time to process how fast his orgasm was building and how that had seemed to be the only encouragement for him to hit its peak and his hard cock spill against his belly.

“Lou,” Harry’s eyes rolled back, trying to catch his breath as Louis kept thrusting into him, in and out, so fast Harry thought Louis would break him (and also get him hard again in record time).

Harry whined loudly, hands lowering from Louis’ back to hold one of his butt cheeks, squeezing it hard. Louis let out a loud cry with Harry’s name, spilling inside of him, frenetic hips filling him with come before stilling with a sighed moan.

Louis went pliant against Harry’s body, lazily looking for his mouth again and Harry accepted it, letting Louis suck on his tongue, their hands still entwined beside them. Harry might’ve thought that Louis had broken his hand for how tightly he was holding it, but then he suddenly started to smooth his thumb against the back of it, with his other hand finding Harry’s curls, massaging his scalp.

“Fuck, Harry,” Louis said, searching for air, pulling out of Harry, “that was...” he rolled off beside him, pulling their entwined hands to rest against Harry’s stomach, and his chin resting on his shoulder, kissing it gently, “God, more than I could ever expect.”

Harry only laughed, turning his head a little to kiss the tip of Louis’ nose. “You were amazing. This was amazing,” he settled himself on his side and Louis followed him, spooning him from behind.

“I told you your wand would do magic to my cock,” Louis laughed, biting at Harry’s shoulder.

“I don’t know why you want to give my wand credit for your amazing performance.”

“Which wand are you talking about?” Now it was Harry’s time to snort, as he squeezed Louis’ arm around his body, tighter.

Harry felt Louis nuzzling against his neck, rubbing his thumb against his belly. He couldn’t contain the feeling spreading inside his chest, although he did try to hide his lovesick smile against the pillow.

He laughed slightly as Louis deposited a kiss on the back of his neck.

“What?”

Harry bit his lip and turned to face Louis better, finally letting go of his hand, letting his own rest on the boy’s cheek. Their faces pressed close again, but that was not what was making Harry tremble a little.

“I was just thinking…”

“You do think an awful lot, you know?” Louis pecked his lips.

“I was thinking about today, what you did, what we just did.”

“Good things?”

“Only good things,” Harry brushed his thumb over the crinkles by Louis’ eyes, “but one specifically.”

“Hmm,” Louis hummed, nuzzling his nose against Harry’s cheek.

“How I really, really wanted this, wanted you.”

“Glad it was mutual.”

“But, also…”

“God, Harry,” Louis laughed, “I mustn’t have fucked you hard enough if you’re still talking like this.”

“Do you wanna keep doing this?” Harry asked seriously, ignoring the boy’s banter, looking at Louis in the eyes, noticing how his brows furrowed at the question.

“Of course,” Louis lift up a bit to support himself by his elbow, his hand resting on the side of his head. “What are you talking about? You thought that just after I fucked you, I would simply ditch you? What…?”

Harry shut Louis up by locking their lips quickly.

“No,” Harry replied, “Merlin, no, that’s not what I thought at all. I was just thinking how I knew that after we’d do this, I wouldn’t be able to let you go.”

“Then, what are you on about, H? Of course I want to keep doing this with you, I mean, even more now.”

“It was just something that was said today. I didn’t think it was important, or maybe I thought you didn’t think it was important.”

Louis only quirked a brow at him, confused.

“The lady from the beauty shop, when she said we were boyfriends…” Harry explained, brushing Louis’ sweaty fringe from his forehead and Louis went still for a second.

“Oh, that? Why did you think that?”

“Because you didn’t deny it? Nor confirmed it?” Harry was more asking than affirming, hoping to get an answer from Louis.

“You wanted me to? To have said something? To have denied it?” Louis questioned him back and Harry chewed on his own lip.

“No…?”

“To confirm it?” Louis’ hand was back on Harry’s face, his thumb brushing over his lips. “I just didn’t think it was necessary.”

Harry’s eyes bulged at that and he saw Louis open a smile.

“Are we, though? Do you want us to be?”

“I mean, what are we doing here, Harry?” Louis interrupted him, looking at Harry deeply.  “I’m not doing this just to fool around. I like you, have so for a long time. I just never thought it was necessary to put a label on it.”

Harry didn’t know what to say back because no, it was not necessary to say that they liked each other back and that they were together. It was clear that there was more than just friends with benefits going on between them, but to say that they were proper dating, in a relationship, being each other’s boyfriends...

“Me too. I mean, yeah. I just– when she said it, it hit me that we had never talked about it? And yes, I like you too, a lot, and I want to be with you, like this,” Harry kissed Louis again.

“You want me to ask if you want to be my boyfriend, is that it?” Louis laughed against Harry’s lips.

“I’m not asking that, I think we’ve reached a consensus here.”

Louis was quiet for a moment, his shining eyes never leaving Harry's, his lips going upward in a tender smile.

“Harry Styles, do you want to be my boyfriend?” The question left Louis’ lips so easily, so nonchalantly, so light, as if it was the simplest question ever asked.

And it was, because Harry had the answer on the tip of his tongue.

“Yes,” he placed his hands on Louis’ neck, pulling him into another kiss, a smiling one with their teeth clacking against each other, and their tongues trying to find each other.

Louis’ hands moved to Harry’s waist, squeezing it, not so tightly, but gently.

When they finally got the kissing right, Harry got himself lost in it, with Louis’ tongue playing with his as if they could stay like that until the end of times.

 

**April, 2012**

 

Dating a wizard was something that Louis didn’t quite understand until he finally asked Harry to be his boyfriend, after putting all his cards on the table and letting the boy know that he wanted to be with him.

Dating a wizard, though, wasn’t much different from dating any other person, Louis reckoned; the only downside of it was that he couldn’t have Harry with him and talk to him all the time (where was that “Motorowl” when a boy needed, _honestly_ ), being restricted to seeing him only on the weekends and talking to him through letters once a week – and Louis had to admit, every time Marcel appeared was like Christmas morning for him, he was always eager to read what Harry had to tell him, even though he knew the boy would tell him all of that again once they saw each other. Marcel seemed even more eager to see him too, always being extra cuddly with him when he would notice Louis was about to send him back to Hogwarts with a reply to Harry (Harry had said that he thought the owl was jealous of them, now that they had finally figured their thing out, and Louis agreed, jokingly saying that “ _of course he would be jealous, Harold, we were having an exclusive relationship before you appeared_ ”).

Dating Harry was, not surprisingly, nothing like Louis had imagined; he didn’t even know what he expected, but he knew it was more than anything he could’ve wished for. He was nervous at first, obviously, with his mind still daring to keep him thinking about how them being together would work out, constantly wondering what Harry had seen in him and why Harry still liked to spend time with him when they would just usually keep doing ordinary muggle stuff together.

Harry never complained though; he always seemed excited and interested in doing whatever Louis had planned for them, be it going to the movies, to a restaurant or to a park, or simply staying in his dorm whenever Liam was not there ( _“So, you and the curly boy finally got things right yeah?” “We’re trying to see how things go, Lima.” “You don’t even have to tell me where things are going tonight, they are certainly going in the direction of your bedroom.” “If you don’t leave us alone, you’re probably going to hear these things all the way from your bedroom. Now shut up, Payno, don’t you have a date tonight?”_ ).

But there were some times, he noticed, that it seemed Harry wanted to do something else (besides all the _other_ things they were doing together). Sometimes Harry would use magic for the most mundane things ( _“_ _Really, Harry? The remote was right there, why did you need to show off the lerviosar for it?” “It’s LeviOsa, not Lerviosar.”_ ) and whenever they were somewhere in central London, Harry would comment how he only used to go to that part of London to go to Diagon Alley.

It seemed like bomb dropping hints at this point, really.

Louis didn’t know where Diagon Alley was exactly, he had never gone there with Lottie, so he had only the slightest idea that it was somewhere near Oxford Street, and had it confirmed when Harry told him so. Louis had an inkling Harry also wanted to ask him if he wanted to know the place, but he had never asked, even when Louis asked if he wanted to go somewhere other than the places he had suggested. Harry would always brush it off, though, saying that he was content with anything Louis would choose for them to do.

It was on a Saturday night, after Louis had made Harry come screaming his name (and also making the lights flicker, _what the fuck_ ) by sucking him off and fingering him at the same time when the curly boy finally let out what he had apparently been thinking about for a long time.

“What are we doing tomorrow, again?” Harry asked, giving little kisses along Louis’ collarbones up to his neck, nibbling very softly at the skin there.

“Christ, Harry, that orgasm was enough to fuck with your brain cells too?” Louis joked, trying not to let the sensation of Harry’s teeth on his skin start to drive him crazy again.

“I don’t even know how I’m able to make coherent thoughts every time we have sex, to be honest,” Harry giggled, kissing Louis’ jawline. Louis rubbed his hand up and down Harry’s upper arm, making pattern with his fingers on the boy’s skin. “But, no, I know you said you bought the tickets to watch that play.”

Louis rolled his eyes. “Firstly, it’s not a play, Harold, it’s a musical,” his fingers went up from Harry’s upper arm, to his shoulder and neck, gently tickling him there, “and second, you almost kicked me in the balls, actually, you basically threatened my balls with your wand, saying how cheesy I was for taking you to watch the Wizard of Oz.”

“You think you’re so funny, taking a literal wizard to watch a play about wizards,” Harry shook his head chuckling, twisting one of Louis’ nipples

“Oi! Stop that,” Louis squealed, slapping Harry’s hand. “It’s not any wizard, please. It’s the Wizard of Oz, and there’s also the Wicked Witch of the West,” Louis started to kiss all over Harry’s face, his lips, his cheeks, cheekbones, nose, near his ears, making the boy laugh even more, “the Wicked Witch of the East, the Good Witch of the North, and tomorrow, with a special guest of the Curly Wizard of Hogwarts.”

“You are insufferable,” Harry led both his hands to hold Louis’ face, smacking his lips against Louis’. Louis let his tongue glide inside Harry’s mouth before Harry pulled away again, sucking and biting on his lower lip. “But, hm, if you really want to see some wizards, I think I could take you somewhere else.” Harry was now biting down at his own lip, still holding Louis’ face and Louis could see the boy’s green eyes looking at him hesitantly.

Finally.

“Uh, you want to take me somewhere for a change this time? Tired of my boring dates?” Louis asked, looking back at him.

“No, you’re never boring, Lou,” Harry shook his head, brushing his thumb over Louis’ cheek. “I love doing all these things with you. I just noticed we’ve never done anything, you now, wizardry.”

“You’re forgetting about all the times you magicked up our cocks.”

“Blimey, Louis!” Harry let his head fall behind as he laughed and a smile opened on Louis’ lips as he saw Harry looking back at him again. “Not that kind of magical thing,” Harry shook his head one last time before resuming to a more serious expression, “I mean, I’ve never showed you any of the stuff I like to do, where I use to go. I love to do all your muggle stuff, which is just fine and I’ve just never asked before because I thought you wouldn’t like it.”

“Why wouldn’t I like it? Harry, I’m with you, a wizard who I like very much. Plus, my sister is also a witch, for God’s sake. If I didn’t like any of this, I wouldn’t be where I am right now,” he voiced, trying to convey to Harry how he felt. “Yeah, some things are still weird for me but it’s only because I’ve never experienced them and I don’t get to study them. I thought you wanted me to understand you more. If not, you’d never have given me those books back then, right?” He asked and Harry only nodded. “So, really, if you want to take me to all the wizard places you like to go, let’s just go then. I would never only subject you to understand my world without understanding yours too.”

“I know, I just– sometimes I just let my reasoning get in the way of me doing things and I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable with anything, so I just thought that you’d just prefer to stay inside your comfort zone.”

“Please, I left my comfort zone the moment I went through a freaking wall 3 years ago,” Louis laughed, kissing Harry on the cheek. “Alright, so, where do you want to take me?”

“I was thinking about going to Diagon Alley, what do you say?”

“Sounds perfect,” Louis smiled at Harry, his hand now massaging the back of his neck, pulling at the small curls the boy had there. “But if the Wizard of Oz becomes boring to me after our little wizarding world tour, I’m blaming you, ok?”

Harry laughed at that, kissing Louis on the lips again, pulling him closer, as if that was even possible, letting them get lost in themselves one more time that night before falling asleep together.

The next day, as discussed, Harry and Louis got ready to head to Diagon Alley, getting the tube to go to Charing Cross Road. They walked down the long street with Harry stopping in front of a broken-down old pub, which, if Louis had passed by it by himself, he would think it was abandoned. When they stepped closer to its door, Louis could see a sign that read “Leaky Cauldron” and when they entered he found the place full of people, with tables all around it, a bar counter and some old and creaky stairs. Louis found himself among wizards, much like the ones he would encounter at Platform 9 ¾ and somehow he felt more aware that he was only a muggle among them, wearing his normal muggle clothes, almost as if he was an intruder.

“Hey, Tom,” Harry greeted the barkeeper behind the counter, the bald man giving a small nod in acknowledge.

Harry didn’t seem to notice Louis’ internal distress, as the boy kept pulling Louis along further into the place, to the rear of the pub where it opened to a chill courtyard, with an old brick wall in front of them.

“So what now? Do we have to go through the wall like at King’s Cross?” Louis asked as Harry stopped beside him, facing the wall as he took his wand from inside his jacket.

“No, I just have to tap the wall on the right bricks and it will move. Just wait and see,” Harry said already pointing his wand in the direction of the wall, starting to tap it on some certain bricks, which caused the wall to start moving, and opening a hole in it.

“Aren’t the bricks supposed to be yellow?” Louis looked from the moving bricks to Harry again, with a smirk.

“Yellow? Why?” Harry pocketed his wand again and took Louis’ hand in his, looking back at him with confusion on his face.

“Nothing,” Louis shook his head laughing, “forget it. If we ever go watch The Wizard of Oz, you’ll understand.”

“Ok,” Harry was still looking at him confused, laughing slightly, as the bricks had stopped moving, opening a full archway and revealing what was on the other side of the wall. “Anyway, welcome,” Harry continued as he pointed with his free hand to the place in front of them, “to Diagon Alley.”

Louis looked at it and saw a completely new world ahead. He saw a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight, full of more people – more wizards – and different kinds of shops, Louis could notice.

Harry squeezed his hand before he started walking towards the streets, Louis following him as the wall behind them started to rearrange itself into place again.

Louis didn’t know where to look. There were so many people doing their shopping, buying things, magical ones, at the several different shops, with so much stuff inside and outside them: animals, cauldrons, books, clothes, robes… Louis was trying to take everything in as Harry led them up the street.

Harry took Louis first to a restaurant as they hadn’t had lunch yet with the promise of them having ice cream later from a place called Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. They walked around the Alley, going from shop to shop, with Harry showing Louis the most unbelievable things, things that not even if Lottie had told him about he would have believed they were true.

Continuing their tour around the place, Harry entered a bookshop Louis saw it was called “Flourish and Blotts”, a very crowded place, not only by people but also by books, the shelves stacked to the ceiling with the most diverse types of books: large ones with leather covers, small ones with silk cover, books with so many symbols on their fronts and also some others with nothing at all. That place was probably where Harry had bought Louis his Quidditch and Drama books.

“Do you mind if we stop here for a bit? I heard they had a new edition of an Ancient Runes book. I want to check if it’s true.” Harry asked as he started looking around the shop.

“Go ahead,” Louis shrugged, also looking around, following Harry’s steps as he didn’t know what else to do, what he could touch or not (there was a very peculiar book held by some straps that Louis swore it was snoring), “but didn’t you say that these runes things haven’t had any developments for ages?”

“Yeah, that’s why I want to check. Maybe it’s an update on the book to say that a symbol they had previously found means nothing at all in the end.”

“That’s kinda rubbish, innit? I mean, I know you’re all into it, but to keep studying it without knowing if you’ll ever understand what these things mean, to find out they mean nothing…”

“It’s not rubbish. Maybe it will drive you nuts because you will never find out what the scriptures mean, but maybe someone will be able to finally decipher the entire alphabet, imagine that!” Louis could hear the excitement in Harry’s voice as he walked to the counter of the shop. “Imagine teaching the wizard students that one day, how awesome!”

“Oh my, what a big nerd you are,” Louis laughed as Harry approached an old man and started to talk to him.

Louis walked around the shop while Harry and the old man started looking for the book Harry wanted, and he could find a stack of copies of the Quidditch book Harry had given him. It said it costed 2 galleons and Louis was still trying to understand how Wizard’s money worked, with the amount of coins Harry was carrying around with him.

Harry got back to where Louis was, holding a thick red book he could see through the bag, smiling at him.

“Light reading for tonight?” Louis joked as he took Harry’s free hand in his.

“I might already know this book by heart to be honest, I’ll just go through it to see if there’s actually any change, hopefully there will be. If not, well, they only called attention to it to make more money,” Harry answered nonchalantly as they got out of the shop, “but anyway, I don’t mind having another copy of this.”

“The nerd in you is showing, babe,” Louis said, pinching Harry’s cheek with his other hand. “By the way, talking about all your nerd stuff, has your teacher talked to you again about your applications?”

“Oh, yeah. Slughorn said he’s been making contact with a lot of people and he even said McGonagall is trying to talk to the other headmasters from different schools to help too. I was a bit surprised with her help, honoured actually, and you know, any recommendation is always welcome, especially from her. She’s aware that I want to become a teacher, so they are trying to find the best place for me.”

“That’s nice,” Louis squeezed Harry’s hand as they walked down the street, “I mean, it won’t be hard for you to find a place to study and your teachers will say only good things about you too, you’ve always studied and worked hard, so.”

“I’m actually more nervous about my NEWTs right now, to be honest. I should be studying more, but, you know, there’s this muggle guy I met,” Harry said, bumping their shoulders together.

“Oi! Don’t put the blame on me because you’re not studying as much as you wanted to!” Louis put his hand on his chest as if he was offended. “I already told you, you can bring your books and study at my dorm if you want, but I see you’re interested in other types of activities,” Louis sent Harry a mischievous look, which he could see made the boy blush.

“I can’t even focus on normal things when I’m around you, imagine concentrating on studying. It would be completely hopeless.”

“You’ve already concentrated hard enough for the past 6 years, c’mon. You can give yourself a little break. Really, sometimes I think you’re going mad when you’re sleeping, talking all sorts of nonsense,” Louis laughed, remembering what had happened a few nights before. “The other day you were babbling about how many drops of dragon blood you should put in some weird potion.”

“I was not! I don’t talk in my sleep!” Harry was taken aback, his eyes bulging, and then slightly becoming narrower. “Wait, you were watching me sleep?” Harry stopped walking, pulling Louis to a halt beside him.

“Guilty,” Louis shrugged and kissed Harry quickly on the lips, not minding that they were in the middle of a street full of wizards. At first, he might have felt a little out of place, a little too cautious to actually share some PDA with his boyfriend in front of strange people, but no one seemed bothered by the two boys walking hand in hand down the street, so he started to feel a bit more at ease.

“And then I’m the mad one,” Harry shook his head, chuckling after kissing Louis back, making them walk again.

“You’re mad about your career, that’s for sure. But don’t worry, Haz, you’ll be fine. You’ll finish your school year excelling at your exams and then the school that accepts you will be lucky to have you with them in September. And who knows, after finishing all your studies you’ll be able to go back to Hogwarts and teach there as you’ve always wanted,” Louis smiled up at Harry.

He wasn’t saying that just to boost Harry’s ego. He knew how dedicated the boy was and every time Harry talked about how much he wanted to study more about Ancient Runes and become a teacher, he could see the passion in him. He was sure that Harry was capable of achieving all he wanted, even if he had to study away during a year or more for that.

“It seems so easy when you say it, but yeah, I’ll try to relax a bit, there’s a month to study still, so,” Harry led them to another corner of the Alley, “let’s not think about it right now. Talking about relaxing, though, let me show you this store. I bet you’re gonna love it.”

They were met with a big store as they turned on the corner, with many red windows, the front one with a gigantic figure of a man inside, pulling a rabbit out of his hat on top of his head. When Louis got inside the Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, Harry told him that there they could find all sorts of practical jokes objects, pyrotechnic products, as well as some defensive objects, special products for witches, sweets and also a section of muggle magic, which Louis was happy to show Harry that he could also make some tricks without even being a real wizard.

They left the shop after Harry purchased some products just to mess with Niall back at Hogwarts, to finally have their ice cream and then head back home.

Louis was mesmerized by the day he had with Harry, with the boy showing him this part of his world. It was a lot more than Louis had ever imagined and he still couldn’t grasp the whole of it, how magic could exist, how wizards could exist… But they did. Harry existed and he was right next to Louis, all attentive, telling him small curiosities about the things they had seen, asking Louis what he thought about all of them.

Louis would never be a sceptical person again, that he was sure of. Since he had found out his sister was a witch, he knew he couldn’t ignore that that world was real and existed. And he grew fond of it, he learned how to like it and to live with it. Now with Harry, he was learning how to accept it even more.

He was almost sure he was falling in love with that world, understanding it better and not feeling like an outsider. And to be honest? He was even more sure that he was falling in love with the boy that showed him all of it.

*

“Christ, Louis, I’ve never had such an easy win over you like that,” Liam said, placing his video game controller on the coffee table.

Louis simple rolled his eyes, puffing, and put his controller beside Liam’s. “Sometimes miracles happen, Payno.”

“No,” Liam turned to face him and Louis could see he got his worried eyes on. “Not with you, you’d never let me beat you on FIFA like this. You’re a competitive little shit, you know.” Liam patted Louis’ knee jokingly. “Something’s not right, I noticed it the moment I arrived. That’s why I asked if you’d like to play a match to see if your mood improved, but apparently… Tell me, what’s up?” Liam was asking him with those brown puppy eyes of his and fuck, Louis knew he had no way of escaping another one of Liam’s interrogations.

How to explain to him that he was worried because it was Wednesday and he hadn’t received any letter from Harry yet? How would he explain that when Marcel didn’t appear at their dorm during Louis’ lunch break between his morning classes and his afternoon shift at the library, he tried really hard not to think about all the possible excuses for Harry not to send him a letter – maybe Marcel got sick (but then he would find a way of sending him another owl), maybe he had too much homework to do that day (but then he would send a letter the day before, like he had done before), maybe he had to give detention to too many students and forgot about Louis’ letter (which was very unlikely), maybe Harry himself got into detention (which was even more unlikely). Fuck, he knew he was being too much, but he couldn’t stop his mind from wandering, especially when he got back from his shift and Marcel still hadn’t shown up.

He should just stop being nervous about Harry’s letter. It would probably arrive the next day, for whatever reason. That’s what they had agreed on, their weekly letters were their way to communicate since Louis couldn’t text Harry any time of the day he wanted (fuck Hogwarts and its technology proof bullshit); and those were the times he really hated Harry being a wizard, because it was fucking hard when all he wanted was to be able to talk with Harry. At least the letters were something that could relieve his longing for the boy (in more ways than others).

“It’s– ugh, it’s nothing,” Louis tried to brush it off, but when Liam simply arched a brow at him, he inhaled deeply, “ok, fine, it’s Harry. I haven’t talked to him in a couple of days.”

“That’s it? You’re all moping because you haven’t talked to your boy? God, you guys have such a weird relationship, just call him, text him.”

Louis rolled his eyes again since there was really nothing he could say to explain to Liam the extent of his relationship with Harry. “He hasn’t replied me, that’s the thing,” he lied. He couldn’t say that it was because Harry hadn’t sent his pet owl to Louis.

“Oh, well, no honeymoon phase of any relationship lasts forever, Lou. I don’t know, just wait. If he doesn’t talk to you soon, try again later.” Louis puffed. Yeah, if he didn’t wake up to Marcel on his window the next morning, the first thing he would do was send Harry a letter himself. He wasn’t being overwhelming, he was just preoccupied, damn it.

“Talking about later,” Liam continued, fetching his phone from his pocket and already typing on it, “Luke texted me, he wants to know if we’re up to going to the pub. I’m in, how about you? It could really help you loosen it up a bit, mate.”

Louis considered it for a second. Yes, getting a little pissed with his friends would totally help him get his mind off Harry right now, but… no, what if Marcel showed up and when they came back the bird was still there? He couldn’t leave his dorm that night. He wasn’t even in the mood, anyway.

“Nah, thanks, but I’ll pass. Got an early shift at the library tomorrow.” He wasn’t lying, but that wasn’t something that had prevented him from going out with his friends before.

Liam didn’t seem to buy it completely, but he seemed fine ignoring it.

“Right, it’s up to you. Though if you change your mind, you know where to find us.” Liam simply shrugged and got up from the couch to go to his bedroom, probably to get ready.

Louis breathed heavily, closing his eyes and letting his head fall back on the backrest of the couch, his legs starting to shake incessantly as he started to bite at his thumbnail.

“C’mon Louis, relax,” Louis heard Liam coming back to the living room, maybe one minute later, maybe ten. “You guys are all over each other, there’s no way he’s ignoring you on purpose. He must be busy, or whatever. Now chill and go watch a movie, you know. Release the stress yourself if you can’t have the boy right now,” at that Louis opened his eyes, angrily showing Liam his middle finger, making the boy laugh as he put on his jacket and got his keys from the key bowl.

“You know damn well where to put that finger, Louis,” Liam sarcastically said, wiggling his thick eyebrows as he was already opening the door.

Louis showed him his other middle finger, only to listen Liam say, “Two fingers? You’re that needy today?”

“Shut the fuck up, Payne!” Louis shouted, throwing a cushion from the couch in the direction of the door, just in time to hit it as Liam left the flat giggling.

Louis grunted in frustration. There wasn’t really anything he could do besides just sitting there and wondering if Marcel would come or not.

He considered playing some more video game to get himself distracted, but he managed to lose even when playing just against the AI. Watching something on TV, catching some reruns of Friends on a random channel was just as unsuccessful.

It was barely sometime after 9 pm when he decided that fuck it, he was going to bed early. Marcel wouldn’t appear that late, so there was nothing else he could do. Pathetic, he knew, but that was life.

He turned off the TV and the lights in the living room and went to his bedroom, closing the door, and plopping down on his bed face first.

It was quite ridiculous of him to feel this bad just because he hadn’t heard from Harry the entire day. It was not like he couldn’t live his life normally without Harry. He could, he managed to do just that all the other days of the week. It’s just, Wednesdays were _their_ weekday.

Why was he getting so moody about it when he could just simply ignore it and wait until Harry showed up on Saturday? But, that was the thing, how would he know if Harry was going to show up? That’s how they communicated, that’s how Harry let him know that he was going to either come on Saturday or on Sunday, if he was going to spend just the day or sleeping over.

Louis had always tried to keep himself reasonable about the restrictions in their relationship. He knew what he was getting himself into when he started seeing Harry, when they decided to date. It wasn’t Louis’ position now to complain about that, but sometimes it just got hard to deal with it.

It started to get harder the moment Louis realized that he was completely gone for Harry, that he was getting more attached to the boy than he should; the moment he noticed that his feelings had quickly evolved, with him realizing he had fallen. Hard.

He was in love with Harry.

He hadn’t said it out loud yet though, because he was kind of terrified of his own feelings. Plus, Harry would be studying away in a few months and they would have to decide what to do with what they had together. They also still had to figure out what to say to Lottie, for God’s sake. They were keeping it a secret from her, only in the hopes that they could tell her after the school year was over, coming up with the excuse that they decided to get together during summer; that would be easier than to blatantly tell her that they had been sneaking around behind her back for months. She would rip both of their heads off with her bare hands if she found out.

Well, she might’ve suspected some things, especially when Harry had told Louis that Lottie inquired him about a hickey Harry had forgotten to magically hide after spending a whole weekend at Louis’ and only apparating back at Hogwarts on Monday morning right before his classes.

They basically couldn’t keep their hands off each other anymore and the more time they started spending together, the more they were letting themselves get carried away. It was hard for Louis to stop thinking about Harry during the week when they were apart and even though they had plenty of time together, Louis missed being all over him. He missed the way Harry made him feel so good.

Louis didn’t even notice when he had started to touch himself, his hand already inside his boxers, palming and squeezing his own cock at the thought of Harry. Bloody Harry Styles, with his perfect curls and dimpled smile and special magic tricks and wand.

Louis couldn’t stop thinking about Harry at Hogwarts, too busy to write to him. What would he be doing? Studying all over those antique books of his in a secluded area of the library? Maybe getting distracted by Louis’ last letter? Or maybe he had some Head Boy duties to attend to, dearest Harry showing his no-nonsense side, bossing everyone around because he had the power to tell them so? Fuck, Louis trembled imagining what Harry could do to him if he were in Hogwarts right now and suddenly jerking himself off to his fantasies wasn't enough. He needed just a little bit more to go for that little push he knew no one else but Harry could give him, making him come so hard it would take a while to pull himself together again.

Louis quickly got the tube of lube that he kept on his nightstand, absent-mindedly spreading it on his hands as he resumed to jack off again, freeing his cock from his joggers. His other hand slipped behind his pants, tracing the crack of his bum before he slowly pushed one finger against his hole.

“Fuck,” he moaned as he closed his eyes, and started to work on his cock and on his arse at the same time. All he could see was Harry, doing both of that to him, being sweet the way that he had always been as he prepped Louis before giving him what he really wanted.

“Harry, oh,” Louis let a pained moan leave his mouth as he inserted another finger inside, feeling himself stretch more.

Amidst his moans, he heard a weird pop that he only managed to attribute to maybe the bed creaking at how he was moving on top of it, not daring to open his eyes as he could feel himself building his own orgasm with the thought of Harry tying his own green and silver tie around Louis’ wrists, binding him on top of his study table at the Hogwarts Library as he licked down his chest, getting ready to - luckily - eat him out.

God, he couldn’t wait for Harry to finally rim him.

“Fuck, Harry,” Louis spoke in his delirium and heard a panted “Lou” back. It only gave him courage to pump himself faster and scissor his fingers inside himself.

“Oh God, I need… Harry…”

“Louis,” Harry’s voice spoke again but it wasn’t as panted and as distant as Louis had imagined. It was as if Harry was there with him, as if Harry was standing right beside him. “Louis, fuck,” Louis heard again and actually felt something touching his arm, which made him open his eyes and see Harry right in front of him.

“What the fuck!” He exclaimed, eyes almost popping out of his face, both his hands stopping whatever movements they were doing.

“Louis,” Harry was breathing heavily, looking at Louis with some crazy eyes, “Merlin, that’s what you look like when you think of me?”

“Where the fuck did you come from?” Louis ignored Harry’s question, still startled by Harry being there, in front of him, wearing his Hogwarts uniform. Was that still his fantasy? Fuck, he couldn’t tell, maybe he was still inside his reverie… but no, Harry was touching him; he could feel Harry’s fingers around his arm, holding it way tighter than it was necessary. That couldn’t be just a dream.

“I–,” Harry was looking at Louis with lust, his cheeks completely flushed, thoughts probably faster than his mouth could speak, “let me finish this for you,” he managed to say, taking his hand from Louis’ arm and quickly unbuttoning his own trousers.

Louis only gulped and nodded, pulling his fingers from inside himself and releasing his cock, not able to say no to Harry, who in his fantasy was licking all the way from his navel to his groin and now was there, offering himself to make Louis’ dreams come true.

Harry stripped out of his own clothes in record time and when he threw his tie on the ground, Louis tried to pretend he wasn’t disappointed by that, only wriggling himself up on the bed and letting Harry crawl up on top of him after lubricating and protecting himself with his wand, which was quickly discarded near his pile of clothes.

Harry didn’t waste any time and as soon as he was on top of Louis, their chests against each other, he started to kiss him feverously, reaching the hem of Louis’ t-shirt to lift it up his head. Louis quickly helped to take it off and after he threw it on the floor, his hands went to his joggers to start pulling it even more down his thighs and Harry helped him, stripping Louis completely out of them.

“Goddamn it, Harry, you can’t do this again,” Louis said as Harry was about to crawl back into the bed, but instead of settling his body back on top of him, he went directly to Louis’ thighs, sucking and licking on them, filling him with bites and hickeys on the soft skin inside them, a trail up to his balls and his cock. Harry pushed up for a deep breath, gazing back into a moaning Louis while one hand held the base of his cock, the other massaging his balls, so tight at the touch. “You can definitely not do this, Christ,” Louis tried to laugh, his breathing starting to get accelerated again as Harry worked his mouth on his cock, the hand on his balls tracing down his rim, teasing it without entering for now.

Louis could feel he was already open enough from his own fingers, but if Harry wanted to finger him, who was he to deny it?

The only downside to it was that even though Harry had scared the fuck out of him by apparating out of nowhere into his bedroom, Louis was already hard enough, too close to his own orgasm. If Harry had other plans in mind with the way his cock looked when he stripped out of his clothes, then he’d better get to it soon.

“Harry, please, just…” Louis said, tangling his hands on Harry’s curls, making the boy’s head bob a little, as he kept sucking on Louis. “I’m almost– please, just fuck me,” he begged. Harry looked up at him, pulling his mouth out from his cock and roughly inserting two fingers inside Louis at once.

“Aaah!” Louis cried. “I meant with your cock, not with your fingers. I’ve already done that enough,” Harry looked fervently at him with shining green eyes, finally starting to move up Louis’ body, kissing him from his navel to his chest, collarbones, neck and finally mouth again, settling himself between Louis’ legs, not even even a moment before he was pushing inside of him.

“Fuck, Harry,” Louis moaned inside Harry’s mouth, tongues sliding one against the other, not completely sure how he hadn’t screamed as he felt Harry’s length all inside of him.

Harry hugged Louis’ waist with one arm, opening his leg up with his other hand to fuck him better. Louis’ anchored his hands around Harry’s neck, not letting the boy stop kissing him as he pounced in and out, breathy whimpers leaving his mouth every time Harry changed his angle or sped up.

Louis’ cock was hard to the point of pain and he needed some relief, but Harry seemed too focused on fucking his arse to pay any attention to his neglected cock. Louis tried to move his hand down to touch himself, hearing a grunt of disapproval to the motion, leaving Louis to scratch down Harry’s sweaty back in desperate need of release.

He kissed Louis’ mouth one last time before moving down to his neck, sucking hard on a spot near his Adam’s Apple as his hand tightened against Louis’ leg, fingerprints pressing against his skin, tiny nail marks sinking into him.

Louis wrapped his leg around Harry’s waist, his ankle pressing against the back of one of Harry’s thighs, giving him the encouragement to keep pushing inside. He felt lost with the feeling of being fucked hard, every thrust or whimper they shared a release of their passion, always asking for more, deeper, harder, faster. Harry then stopped a moment, moving back a bit to lift Louis’ legs to rest up his shoulder, holding the headboard to move deeper into Louis – who sobbed at the abrupt change of angle, folded almost in half, just grabbing Harry by his butt, making him hit his prostate right on the spot.

Louis came with a loud cry after a bit, overwhelmed by his own untouched orgasm, spilling all over himself; chest heavily moving trying to catch his breath, with Harry increasing his pace, almost desperate, trying to find his own orgasm – headboard banging against the wall while Louis whined from overstimulation, milking for Harry’s release.

“Fuck, Harry,” Louis moaned. “You fuck me so good, babe. I came only on your cock.” Louis gave Harry’s arse a little slap. “Now come in me, love, fill me up.” And right on that, as expected, Louis could feel Harry’s entire body shiver, his head turning upwards in bliss, one hand holding Louis’ leg, pushing him some more in some last aimed thrusts.

He breathed heavily as he pulled himself out from Louis, looking him in the eyes, which Louis noticed were redder than normal, his face a bit wet and were it not for the sweat, Louis would probably say that Harry had been crying. His sluggish brain started to feel a little bit worried at that, trying to catch up between the best and most intense sex they had had so far – and what seemed now as the quietest sex as well. Harry was usually loud, praising him and calling his name, but today he seemed off. He couldn’t quite put a finger on it.

“Hey,” Louis murmured, pulling Harry’s face down for a kiss, slowly trying to find Harry’s tongue, trying to change the needy and hasted sex mood between them.

He felt Harry giving in into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Louis’ waist and moving them to rest on their sides.

He broke the kiss, giving Louis small pecks on his lips and then moving to the tip of his nose, to his cheek and just under his ear. “Hey,” he finally said back, his voice deeper than usual.

“Did this really happen or am I still dreaming? I seriously thought I was making you up when I opened my eyes. Christ Harry, you scared the hell out of me,” Louis giggled, looking for Harry’s hand to entwine their fingers together and bring their hands up to kiss the back of Harry’s.

“Sorry,” Harry apologized, his voice in a tone way too distressed for how he usually would be after sex, “I didn’t mean to startle you appearing like that.”

“Well, you didn’t mean to simply appear and fuck me out of nowhere, did you?” Louis went back to kissing the boy’s cheek. “Not that I mind, I’m actually glad you did that. Fuck, I’ll be feeling this for days.”

“I mean, I didn’t mean to walk in on you wanking and fingering yourself either, so. I wasn’t really coming here for it, I’m sorry.”

Louis was confused as to why Harry was being sorry for actually shagging his own boyfriend. “What? What are you sorry for? You’re acting weird, Haz, what’s… wait, does this have to do with the fact that Marcel hasn’t showed up today?”

Harry closed his eyes and inhaled loudly. “Yeah, kind of,” he squeezed their intertwined hands.

“I was so worried, you have no idea,” Louis pecked his lips quickly. “What happened, love? Is there something wrong with him?”

“No, he’s fine. He’s doing fine, it’s not…” Louis could see Harry was stalling, delaying actually to spit out what was going on.

“Then what is it? Why didn’t you send him? Were you going to send him later? Did he get lost in the middle–”

“No, Louis, there’s nothing wrong with Marcel. This has nothing to do with Marcel. I just didn’t think I could tell you this through a letter. But, nevermind.” Harry opened his eyes, looking at Louis just as seriously as he was speaking before glancing sideways.

Louis got a little surprised at Harry’s change of tone.

“No, come on. What is it? Tell me, Haz, don’t leave me hanging here. You know you can tell me anything.”

Harry took a deep breath when Louis kept nagging him for answers. “I wanted to come and tell you in person, I just– I didn’t plan on this happening.”

“This what? You fucking me senseless? This wasn’t supposed to happen? I’m not sorry about it and you shouldn’t be either, Christ. What’s wrong with a good shag? What’s going on, Harry?” Louis was now getting impatient at the boy. What he was saying was making no sense and he just wouldn’t simply cut the crap and tell him what was going on.

He let go of Harry’s hand and distanced himself a little, crossing his arms over his chest, brows arched at Harry.

“Fuck, Louis, I’m sorry. I also didn’t come here to fight with you, bloody hell.” Harry ran his now free hand over his curly fringe before getting to a sitting position on the bed. “This was what I was afraid of. This is why I was nervous the whole day yesterday and today. I didn’t send Marcel because I was afraid of how you’d react, and you’re already mad at me and I haven’t even told you. We should leave this for later, perhaps.”

“The fuck we will.” Louis puffed, sitting up to look at Harry. “Well, you should learn how to speak faster then, because you’re the one who is beating around the bush here.”

“Merlin,” Harry rolled his eyes. “I– Fuck, Louis. I received a letter back from one of the schools I was trying to apply.” He blurted out, finally.

Louis looked at Harry confused, scratching the hickey on his leg absentmindedly. Harry did a number on him, he looked like a painted canvas. Owned. “Well, congrats?” He tentatively put a hand on one of Harry’s thighs, squeezing it. The boy didn’t seem to mind it, and Louis took that as a good thing, a sign they weren’t really fighting (they never did), just speaking different languages. “I mean, great, H! That’s awesome, you’ve been wanting it for so long.”

“That’s not only it.” Harry shook his head slowly, picking on his on nails.

Louis squeezed his thigh once more, brows furrowed at Harry when he finally looked back at him.

“What?”

“Remember how we talked about it, that if the school accepted me, I would have to study abroad?”

“Yeah. That’s why you were afraid of telling me this?” Louis searched for Harry’s hands, to take them in his. “Harry, we talked about it. It will suck that you’ll be away, but we still have until September to figure out what to–”

“We might have to figure it out right now,” Harry cut him off, his tone dry and direct, not letting Louis’ hands take his.

“Uh, what? What are you talking about?” Louis’ felt his stomach drop.

“The school that accepted me is in Brazil and they really want me to go work with them, but they said I need to have field experience,” Harry exhaled heavily, looking at Louis but not making eye contact for long. “Castelobruxo, its name. Professor Slughorn didn’t tell me this before, so when the letter arrived and I went to talk to him and McGonagall, he said that he had everything arranged already, that I would have to leave before–”

“Before what?” Louis was trying to pay attention to what Harry was saying, but he just wanted to avoid Harry’s babbling and make the boy get straight to the point. Who the fuck cared about its fucking name or what his teachers thought.

“Before the end of the classes. He said he found a group of researcher wizards that are going to do an expedition in South America and they are willing to take new learners. But... they are leaving in the middle of May.”

“Wait, you have to leave with them? What about your exams?” Louis wasn’t really concerned about Harry’s exams. He gave zero fucks about them, but if Harry still had to do them, he wouldn’t be able to leave in just a couple of weeks – and if that could delay Harry’s sudden departure, Louis could feel a little bit more relieved.

“McGonagall allowed me to take them before the rest of the Seventh Year students. She said that going on this field trip will be better than any of my NEWTs results, so,” Harry shrugged and Louis could see that he wasn’t actually worried about it, which made his eyes sting a little, with him starting to understand Harry’s intentions.

“So,” Louis cleared his throat, trying to stay put, not trying to fuck up what he was about to say next, “what you’re telling me is that, instead of going away in September, you have to leave next month. And you were afraid of telling me this. You actually said you didn’t come here expecting us to have sex… so, you came here to do what? Break up with me?” Louis asked, his voice not even daring to tremble, as he was trying to remember all the techniques he knew not to show his nervousness.

“What? Louis, no, I came here to talk.”

“Well, when you said that you didn’t mean for this,” Louis gestured between them, “to happen, the only conclusion I could take was that whatever you wanted to tell me, it could never end with us in bed together. Like, you know, boyfriends do. Like we do. Or did, I don’t know anymore.”

“Fuck, Louis,” Harry interjected, “I just wanted to talk to you, reasonably, without our feelings getting caught up in the middle.”

Louis laughed faintly, interrupting Harry. He couldn’t believe what the boy had just said. “And how would you expect that to go? With us talking about you going away sooner than we thought without saying how we feel about it?”

“That’s not what I’m saying, blimey. I just wanted to talk to you and find a solution for this together, because I have been already eating myself up since I got the news and, fuck Louis, it’s just hard.”

“How hard? As hard as you just fucked me? Shit.” Louis’ braced himself, hand dragging against his face dejectedly, ignoring Harry’s annoyed growl. “Fuck. We were already going to talk about this eventually and I don’t see how different this is. In my honest opinion, I don’t see why you’re making this a bigger deal than it looks to me.”

“It’s not a big deal for you that I’ll be away for months and then I’ll just be studying in another continent?” Harry’s eyes were wide open now, a little outraged.

“I don’t see the problem, seriously,” Louis said, earnestly, because he had already given some thoughts about what he and Harry could do once he had to go away in September. “We have been doing just fine for 4 months now with you apparating here, so why can’t it just continue the same?”

“It doesn’t work like that, Louis. We’re not talking about me apparating from Scotland to London. We’re talking about me apparating from overseas to London, and no wizard is crazy enough to do that.”

“How am I supposed to know? I just thought you guys could appear wherever you wanted at any time. Anyway, if you can’t, don’t you have other ways of transportation like that?”

“Yeah, but, portkeys are complicated, you can’t just use one wherever you want either. You’d have to go through some Ministry International Affairs bureaucracy and it takes time. Floo also doesn’t work long distance, and…” Harry pinched the bridge of his nose, “Louis, I’ll be travelling, I won’t have much time to just appear here all the time.”

“What kind of bullshit is magic for then? What do you even use it for if you can’t just do whatever you want with it?” Louis was starting to get indignant but Harry’s lack of resistance on what they could do to just keep their relationship was making him get defensive, “and don’t tell me that owls wouldn’t be able to travel like that too.”

“It would take a lot more time than normal, so it’s not recommendable to use one too many times without proper rest...”

“Fucking Christ,” Louis lifted both his arms, and let them down in frustration, “what the fuck Harold, so what? What do you suggest? Because clearly, I don’t think you have a plan B for this.”

Even though Harry’s expression seemed calm, Louis could see the sadness in his eyes and what seemed a bit of annoyance. He only kept looking at Louis, with those green eyes as if they were looking inside Louis’ soul and it hurt because Louis knew what was coming, he could feel it but he didn’t want it to happen.

“I don’t know Louis, I really don’t. I never wanted for this to happen, but I don’t see how this could work, when we’ll be apart for so long.”

Louis closed his eyes and shook his head, feeling his heart hurt and his eyes start to burn behind his eyelids. Fucking hell, he couldn’t believe Harry was doing that to him. Not right now.

“I see,” he said, breathing deeply before gathering all his courage to look again at Harry without letting the boy see how much he wanted to cry at that moment. “Actually, I should’ve seen it sooner that this would have never worked.”

“Louis, please no. That’s not what I said at all.” Now it was Harry the one reaching out to find Louis’ hands, but he only shook his head to Harry, pulling his hands away from him.

“Harry, how could we work, seriously? With me being a fucking muggle, an ordinary human being. It would never work out. You’d eventually choose your magic over me, I should’ve known this.”

“I’m not choosing my magic over you, Louis! This has nothing to do with you being a muggle, fuck,” Harry ran a hand through his curls, “you know how this is important to me. I just can’t let this opportunity slip away and I’m just saying that right no–”

“Oh,” Louis interrupted Harry, arching a brow at him, “so you just expect me to see you fuck off into the world, see you accomplish all the things you want in life, become the great fucking wizard I know you can be, just to wait for you to come back? Is that it?”

Harry didn’t say anything, shaking his head and Louis could see a thick tear fall down his cheek. Louis could feel the lump in his throat, the need to let his own tears fall down too, but he wouldn’t, not with Harry saying that he couldn’t open any exception in his life to try to keep Louis in it.

“You know what, Harry? You go,” Louis spoke again, breaking the silence and their intense stare, “you go have your adventure, pursue your career and all that, that’s the best you can do. There’s nothing for you if you keep me around. I can’t offer you any of that.” He ignored Harry’s disbelieving “Louis!” and kept going. “I can’t offer you anything because I can’t be where you are, I can’t do what you do, I can’t fucking be anything compared to you, so, yeah, you…” Louis breathed heavily again, letting a shiver go through his body and feeling his cheeks getting wet without him even allowing it.

Harry was completely still, eyes struck on Louis, his tears gathering around his green eyes.

“Just go, Harry,” Louis repeated, waving his hand in front of him in the direction of where the boy’s clothes were on the floor. “Just go, because I don’t think I can look at you right now knowing that you’re just going to leave and I won’t be able to do anything to change your mind. I don’t want you to.”

“Lou,” Harry finally spoke, moving on the mattress to get closer to Louis, reaching his hand to touch his face, but Louis only turned away from him. “Louis, please look at me. Just– fuck, Louis, I’m so sorry. I didn’t want this to turn sour like this. I wanted us to have worked this through. I don’t want to lose you, hell, Louis I’m so in–”

“Don’t you fucking dare say whatever you were about to say,” Louis cut him off abruptly, looking at him again to see Harry’s pleading eyes. No, Harry had no right to say that to him just now, not when Louis himself could feel his heart breaking at the thought that he was fucking in love with the boy in front of him too. “It won’t work Harry, it just won’t…” Louis closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. He felt Harry’s hand against his cheek, suddenly his lips were pressed by Harry’s wet ones and fuck, no, he couldn’t let Harry kiss him again – but also, he couldn’t stop himself from wanting to taste him, even if it was the last time he was going to do that.

Harry’s tongue glided inside Louis’ mouth, slowly, smoothly; Louis almost wanted to scream at how that made his heart hurt even more. He put one of his hand on Harry’s bare chest, lingering at the feeling of his skin before finally having the guts to push Harry away.

“Go, Harry,” he begged, with his forehead against Harry’s, not daring to open his eyes as he heard Harry weeping loudly.

He felt Harry nodding and a second later the mattress moved under him as Harry got up from the bed. Between their hitched breaths and sobs, Louis heard a fast fumbling of clothes and he only assumed Harry had conjured some spell to dress himself quickly and the next thing he heard was that loud pop again. When he opened his eyes, he was alone in the bedroom, again.

He pressed the heels of his hand against his eyes, finally letting the tears fall without holding himself back, wailing desperately over the loss and hurt he felt.

“Fucking hell,” he grunted, almost screaming, as he fell back on his back, letting loud sobs leave his mouth.

He was there, in the middle of his bed, the bed Harry had fucked him one last time, the bed Harry had kissed him one last time, the bed Harry had fucking broken up with him, even though Louis had been the one to actually tell Harry to go away. Louis knew though, that from the moment Harry had started talking, he hadn’t come to his flat to make amends.

Louis knew how determinate Harry was and how when he wanted something, he would go for it without hesitating. At that moment, it seemed clear Louis wasn’t what Harry wanted the most in his life, when, on the other hand, all Louis wanted was to have Harry in his.

And now, there he was, crying because not even magic could fix them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "You're gonna suffer but you're gonna be happy about it." 
> 
> We hope you can trust us :) xx


	7. Third Year (May - June 2012)

**May, 2012**

 

_Harry,_

_Lottie told me you’d be leaving this week, so I just thought I should say a proper goodbye to you._

_I’m sorry things ended up the way they did, but I think this is the best for both of us._

_You deserve to go live your life, to explore the world, to find your true passion and go after your dreams. I shouldn’t have been mad at you for wanting that and I’m sorry._

_I think I understand your reasons now and I’ve never wanted anything but the best for you, so yeah, just enjoy your new journey, be happy, find what makes you happy and I hope you achieve what you’ve always wanted. As I’ve always said, you’re meant for greater things, Harry, and I’m sure now is your time to go after it._

_I’ll always keep what_ _we had close to my heart, and you will always be in it._

_Have a nice life. Enjoy it._

_Louis._

Harry folded the paper back inside the envelope he had just opened as he was sitting on a bench at Hogsmeade station, waiting to meet with the group that he was supposed to be travelling with to South America.

“So, what did he say?” Niall asked beside him.

Harry put the letter inside his coat and closed his eyes for a moment before he finally replied to Niall. “He just wanted to say goodbye.”

“That’s it? No regrets? No “please come back Harry, I’m dying without you”?”

“No,” Harry shook his head, speaking very low. “He just… he knows it will be difficult to be in contact from now on, so, he was just being polite to wish me a good trip,” he shrugged, letting out a slow breath.

“Well, that sucks,” Niall put a hand on Harry’s shoulder, squeezing it, “I’m sorry that you guys didn’t work out, H. I know it’s sad but you shouldn’t beat yourself up about it. I won’t let you feel sad when you’re supposed to be excited about this trip, alright? That’s why I’m here.”

“I thought you were here because you had no clue what you wanted to do with your life and thought that it would be good to have a new perspective?” Harry looked at him with one brow raised.

“That too, but mainly to cheer you up, mate. But, shh, don’t tell Slughorn that I tricked him into thinking that I was really into Ancient Runes even though I never took that damn class. Snakes stick together, never forget that.”

Harry laughed slightly at that because he didn’t deserve Niall in his life; he was too good to be his best friend and to put up with him at his worst, especially in the past two weeks, when all he could do was mope about the fact that he and Louis had broken up the way they did.

At least he had Niall with him, and that was a good enough distraction, especially when dealing with a too excited Lottie, talking a million an hour, asking about the field work and if he’d told Louis about it.

Louis.

Harry tried his best to stay impartial with Lottie. Really, she had nothing to do with what happened between Louis and him. She didn’t even know they were dating, so it wasn’t her fault that she kept bringing up Louis’ name in their conversations. And regardless of the fact that Harry knew that he probably wasn’t going to talk to Louis in the near future, he didn’t want to lose Lottie’s friendship, so he did his best to keep the girl informed of his plans and promised to keep her posted about his life while he was away.

It would be hard though, with him knowing how Lottie loved to talk about her brother (and sisters), but he reckoned that Louis would always be a constant in his life and it would be hard to forget about him anytime soon. Harry didn’t want to forget about him, but he had to move on eventually. He had to be focused on this new part of his life that didn’t include Louis, even if the boy had just said that Harry would always be in his heart. They had agreed on that, didn’t they?

_Just go, Harry._

He only hoped that his time away would mend his own aching heart.

 

**June, 2012**

 

It was the first time Louis was actually not excited to cross Platform 9 ¾’s wall to go pick up Lottie for her summer holidays.

If he could avoid all kind of contact with magic, he would, but having a witch sister still required him to interact with it once in a while. For the past month and a half, he really tried to ignore all magical things in his life, but how could he do it if that meant neglecting his own sister?  

So bitterness it was. Not that Lottie could ever know that – or anyone, really.

Especially now, when Lottie had been relying on him for how sad she was that “ _her first wizard friends ever_ ” were graduating and moving away from Hogwarts (and Louis almost ripped Lottie’s letter when he read that Niall had traveled with Harry, but that’s not here nor there). He couldn’t let his own pettiness towards a boy taint his view on the wizarding world, not when his baby sister was a part of it. Not out loud, anyway.

There was no way of him explaining to her the real reason he wanted nothing to do with magic for a while, being the real reason the boy who was going away to another continent, not only leaving Lottie, but Louis too.

Entering that platform again only gave him that bittersweet feeling of nostalgia, which he had been trying to suppress for weeks now.

“Blimey, Lou, what’s with that face? Do I have something in my teeth?” Lottie said in lieu of greeting him, pushing her trolley in his direction when he finally got closer to her. Louis knew he didn’t put much effort in getting ready to leave his dorm, his sunglasses luckily hiding his baggy eyes, but he was aware his face hadn’t been able to properly form a smile in weeks.

“Sorry, didn’t sleep well last night,” he shrugged, hugging his sister and kissing the top of her head before getting the handle of the trolley and pushing it away from the crowd gathered near the Express. “Let’s get going, I found a sick place for us to eat, come on, quick.”

“Yes, come on, we need to catch up. And you need to rest! I really hate only talking to you by owl, it’s like I missed you tenfold without Harry and Niall at Hogwarts to distract me. I only had the girls and it’s not quite the same.”

“Yeah, yeah, I told you you should listen to me and create that Motorowl I’m pestering you about. We’d be rich,” Louis decided to ignore whatever Lottie had said that included Harry and Hogwarts in the same sentence. “If you’re that eager to catch up, then you should, you know. Catch up. Walk faster, sis.” He didn’t want to sound harsh, but the faster they left the platform, the faster he would be able to breathe more relieved that he wasn’t among so many wizards anymore.

“That was so lame it could have been one of Harry’s, I swear. He’d be cracking so many bad jokes before he left it was obvious how stressed he was. Niall must have been too because he let him do as many lame jokes as he could without hexing him, I swear.” Louis knew she didn’t meant to comment about Harry on purpose, but if Louis clenched his jaw and inhaled sharply through his nose, it wasn’t meant for the girl to notice.

Louis was trying not to stay mad at Harry for their break up. He had even attempted to talk to him one last time before he left, but when the boy never answered back (and maybe Louis knew it wasn’t his fault entirely), he couldn’t help but feel bitter about him.

They had broken up, Louis was pissed and it would still take a while for him to recover. The less things he had to do that would involve anything that would remind him of Harry, the better. It was hard enough to remind himself that he was in love with a boy that had just gotten away from him, that life had gotten in their way and there was nothing they could do to help it – or nothing Harry was willing to do either. 

This month and a half though had left Louis with a bitter taste, dealing with the immediate hollowness of a sudden breakup. His hickeys a physical memory of what happened that night and after they faded, nothing but resentment. Harry did a number on him, and now he needed to relearn on how to look at this whole new world he’d been presented three years back and disassociate it from curly hair and dimply smile, otherwise he’d never be able to live in peace with it as he should. As Lottie deserved.

Three years ago, Louis would never had imagined that he would be in that situation, that his life and heart would be this mess. All he wished for was, that from then on, he would be able to get his mundane life back to normal, being just a brother, a son – just himself without magical boys to play with his heart again. He felt like a lame parody, like one of those magic shows he used to go when little with her sisters to see the tricks with the white rabbits.

Don’t follow the white rabbit, Louis. It’s never quite a wonderland.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who has read this. It means a lot to us!
> 
> We hope you enjoyed reading this journey as much as we enjoyed writing it. 
> 
> Don't forget: this is not the end! Please subscribe to the series. Part 2 is [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9518795) :)
> 
> As the official motto of this fic, we leave you again with: "You're gonna suffer but you're gonna be happy about it."
> 
> Thanks again,
> 
> Ste and Star xx

**Author's Note:**

> Title based on [Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic](https://youtu.be/aENX1Sf3fgQ) by The Police
> 
> Thanks for reading! 
> 
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